Scirpus

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Scirpus
Scirpus atrovirens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Genus: Scirpus
L.
Species

About 120; see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Chamaeschoenus Ehrh.
  • Leiophyllum Ehrh.
  • Dichismus Raf.
  • Diplarinus Raf.
  • Seidlia Opiz
  • Actaeogeton Steud.
  • Blepharolepis Nees
  • Nemocharis Beurl.
  • Taphrogiton Montandon
  • Maximoviczia A.P.Khokhr.
  • Maximowicziella A.P.Khokhr.

Scirpus is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush (see also bulrush for other plant genera so-named). They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of the genus is complex, and under review by

botanists. Recent studies by taxonomists of the Cyperaceae have resulted in the creation of several new genera, including the genera Schoenoplectus and Bolboschoenus; others (including Blysmus, Isolepis, Nomochloa, and Scirpoides
) have also been used. At one point this genus held almost 300 species, but many of the species once assigned to it have now been reassigned, and it now holds an estimated 120 species.

Description

Scirpus are rhizomatous perennial herbs, with 3-angled stems and flat grass-like leaves. The flowers are in clusters of small spikelets, often brown or greenish brown.[2]: 992  Some species (e.g. S. lacustris) can reach a height of 3 m, while S. sylvaticus is about 1.2 m and others, such as S. supinus, are much smaller, only reaching 20–30 cm tall.

Distribution

The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, found on every continent except Africa and Antarctica.[1]

Ecology

Many species are common in

wetlands and can produce dense stands of vegetation, along rivers,[3][4] in coastal deltas[5] and in ponds and potholes.[6] Although flooding is the most important factor affecting its distribution, drought, ice scour, grazing, fire and salinity also affect its abundance.[7] It can survive unfavourable conditions like prolonged flooding, or drought, as buried seeds[8]

Scirpus species are used as

Selected species

(This list is incomplete, and may include some species now assigned to other genera.)
Selected species in a broader view of the genus

Fossil record

Several hundred

West Carpathians, Poland.[13]

Uses

Scirpus species are often planted to inhibit

rhizomes
are collected in the autumn and winter and dried in the sun before use.

References

  1. ^ a b "Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families". Royal Botanic Garden Kew. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. .
  6. ^ van der Valk, A. G. (1989). Northern Prairie Wetlands. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
  7. ^ Keddy, P.A. (2010). Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  8. .
  9. ^ Busck, August (1914). "New Microlepidoptera from Hawaii". Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus. 2 (7): 106.
  10. ^ Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii (PDF). Vol. 9 Microlepidoptera. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. pp. 1003–1015.
  11. . Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  12. ^ Angiosperm Fruits and Seeds from the Middle Miocene of Jutland (Denmark) by Else Marie Friis, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 24:3, 1985
  13. ^ Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.

External links

Sources

  • Muntz, Philip A. A California Flora. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1973, copyright 1959
  • Muntz, Philip A. A California Flora: Supplement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976 (Scirpus lacutris, validus, glaucus, p. 183))