bulrush

sedge

sedge, common name for members of the Cyperaceae, a family of grasslike and rushlike herbs found in all parts of the world, especially in marshes of subarctic and temperate zones. The name sedge is also used specifically for species of the genus Carex of the same family. Sedges differ from true grasses in having solid, angular (usually triangular) stems. Most are perennial, reproducing by rhizomes. Some sedges are woven into mats and chair seats, and a few provide coarse hay. The pith of Cyperus papyrus was the source of the papyrus of ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. Bulrushes, often called clubrushes, are sedges of the genus Scirpus; various other similar plants are also called bulrushes. The bulrushes in which the infant Moses was hidden (Ex. 2.8) were probably papyrus. The Oriental water chestnut (Eleocharis tuberosa) is cultivated extensively among the Chinese for its edible tubers. An unrelated Asian aquatic plant, Trapa natans, also called water chestnut (or water caltrop or hornnut) and sometimes also used for food, is now naturalized in the United States. Many genera of the sedge family have indigenous and abundant species in America. Sedge is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Cyperaceae.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Bulrush

 

(Scirpus), a genus of perennial, rarely annual, plants of the family Cyperaceae. The flowers are bisexual, in spikelets, gathered into umbrelled paniculate or capitate inflorescences. There are usually six perianth bristles; however, sometimes they are absent. There are two or three stigmas. More than 250 species are found throughout the world. In the USSR there are approximately 20 species, growing in damp places and in water. The great bulrush (Scirpus lacustris), which often makes up vast thickets, forms peat. Its stalks, measuring up to 2.5 m in height, are used to weave various articles. They are also used as material for packing, heat insulation, and construction. The stalks are eaten by muskrats and water rats. The species S. sylvaticus is fed as hay to cattle; its young shoots are a favorite food of deer. The species S. gracilis (native to India) and S. prolifer (native to Africa and Australia) are cultivated as ornamentals. The genera Holoschoenus and Dichostylis, which are distributed in the moderately warm regions of Eurasia, are sometimes considered as the genus Scirpus. Plants of the genus Phragmites of the family Gramineae are often incorrectly called bulrush.

T. V. EGOROVA

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

bulrush

1. a grasslike cyperaceous marsh plant, Scirpus lacustris, used for making mats, chair seats, etc.

2. a popular name for reed mace (sense 1): the name derived from Alma-Tadema's painting of the finding of the infant Moses in the "bulrushes" — actually reed mace

3. a biblical word for papyrus (the plant)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005