Leafy Bulrush

Scirpus polyphyllus Vahl, Enum. 2: 274. 1805
Scirpus exallatus Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 56. 1814.
Scirpus exallatus @ viviparus Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 56. 1814.
Scirpus brunneus Muhl. Descr. Gram. 42. 1817.
Scirpus brunneus /3 viviparus Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 327. 1836.
Scirpus brunneus y crispus Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 327. 1836.
Holoschoenus brunneus Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2, 1: 773. 1840.
Perennial; roots spongy, the rootstocks short; culms single at the nodes, usually ca. 6 dm. tall, to 1 m., triangular, green, smooth; sheaths green, drying brown, the blades to 3 dm. long, to 7 mm. broad, scabrous on the margins and midrib, tapered to a blunt tip; involucral bracts 3-5, leaflike, unequal, the primary rays of the umbel to 10 dm. long, smooth, the small heads of 3-15 spikelets on the shorter secondary rays; spikelets yellow-brown or reddish, ovoid, 2.5-3 mm. long; scales 1-1.5 mm. long, rounded, mucronate; bristles 6, usually twice bent, about twice the length of the achene; style trifid, dark red; achene ca. 1 mm. long, light brown, broadly obovoid, mucronate.
Type locality: "In America boreali?"
Distribution: Swamps and borders of ponds; Maine, south to Georgia, west to Indiana and Kentucky.