Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Poales - Family: Typhaceae
Bulrush (also spelt Bullrush) is widespread throughout the UK and Ireland except for the far north. It has also been given the name Great Reedmace, but this did not catch on, and botanists have eventually, if reluctantly, accepted the popular name Bulrush.
Found growing in the water at the edges of lakes and slow-flowing rivers, Bulrush, is in fact not a member of the 'rush' family; it is a kind of grass. Plants can grow to two metres tall.
The strange spiked flowers appear from June to August. The straw-coloured male flower is directly above the darker, cylindrical female flower.
Also quite common is the Lesser Bulrush (or Lesser Bullrush) Typha angustifolia, a slimmer but otherwise very similar plant.
Sue Parker's latest ebook is a revised and enlarged edition of Wild Orchids in The Burren. Full details here...
Buy it for just £5.95 on Amazon...
Sue Parker's new ebook is a comprehensive and fully revised edition of her acclaimed field guide to the Wild Orchids of Wales. Full details here...
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.