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. They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations.
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 metres (10 feet), while S. sylvaticus is about 1.2 m (4 ft) and others, such as S. supinus, are much smaller, only reaching 20–30 centimetres (8–12 in) tall.
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.
Selected species
(This list is incomplete, and may include some species now assigned to other genera.)
Many species are common in wetlands and can produce dense stands of vegetation, along rivers,[5][6] in coastal deltas[7] and in ponds and potholes.[8] Although flooding is the most important factor affecting its distribution, drought, ice scour, grazing, fire and salinity also affect its abundance.[9] It can survive unfavourable conditions like prolonged flooding, or drought, as buried seeds.[10]
Scirpus species are often planted to inhibit soil erosion. They are also used in some herbal remedies; the plant's rhizomes are collected in the autumn and winter and dried in the sun before use.
^Stace, C. A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (Fourth ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C & M Floristics. ISBN978-1-5272-2630-2.
^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
^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.
^Auclair, A. N. D.; Bouchard, A.; Pajaczkowski, J. (1976). "Plant standing crop and productivity relations in a Scirpus–Equisetum wetland". Ecology. 57 (5): 941–52. Bibcode:1976Ecol...57..941A. doi:10.2307/1941059. JSTOR1941059.
^Day, R. T.; Keddy, P. A.; McNeill, J.; Carleton, T. (1988). "Fertility and disturbance gradients: a summary model for riverine marsh vegetation". Ecology. 69 (4): 1044–54. Bibcode:1988Ecol...69.1044D. doi:10.2307/1941260. JSTOR1941260.
^Gough, L. G.; Grace, J. B.; Taylor, K. L. (1994). "The relationship between species richness and community biomass: the importance of environmental variables". Oikos. 70 (2): 271–9. Bibcode:1994Oikos..70..271G. doi:10.2307/3545638. JSTOR3545638.
^van der Valk, A. G. (1989). Northern Prairie Wetlands. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
^Keddy, P.A. (2010). Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
^van der Valk, A. G.; Davis, C. B. (1976). "The seed banks of prairie glacial marshes". Canadian Journal of Botany. 54 (15): 1832–8. doi:10.1139/b76-197.