BUR-REED 



Sparganium eurycarpum Engelm. 



May - June In that not-quite-wet and not-(iuite-dry environment 



Swamps, ponds ol the swamp and the ?wampv edges of ponds and 



streams, the Inir-reeil grows. .Must of tlie time it is 

 not conspicuous, hut twice, during the year it merits attention. In April 

 the flower spikes thrust from the angled, dark green stems with their 

 clas})ing, narrow leaves. The ilower stalks are comjioscd of round clusters 

 of stamens and jnstils, the former llulfier and yellower than the latter. 

 The stem liolds tight gi-een huds. hall opt'iicd llowcr hall.-, wide ojien 

 flowers, and flowers whose jjarts have fallen away to sli;»w ,<eeds hegin- 

 ning to form. 



The seed limi' is the second attention-getting period in the ineon- 

 spicuous life of the hur reed on the swampy shore. Now the one-time 

 flower spikes are seed spikes; each is studded with several glohular green 

 fruiting clusters radiating individual si'ed spikes. The seecl head is 

 shaped much like that of the sweet gum tree. 



The time of the flowering of l)ur-reed in the grassy swamj) heside 

 the river is the time when the redwinged hlackhirds are hack in the 

 marsh. The redwings carol and teeter and ilash their hrilliant scarlet 

 and gold shoulders, spread their glossy black tails and st'cm almost to 

 force out the song which spills over the marsh. The period between the 

 blossoming of the hur-rced and the seed time in June sees the redwings 

 building nests in catt<iils or low willows, and by the time the green fruit 

 lieads have formed on the bur-reeds, there are young redwings fussing 

 in the nests. As the hot sunnner comes on, tlie Inir-reed seeds ripen and 

 turn brown on the stalks, and the young redwings are grown and come 

 to feed in the sunnv summer marsh. 



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