| Author | Vahl | |
| Distribution | Essentially throughout the Mountains and Piedmont; absent from the Sandhills and Coastal Plain.
VT to IL and MO, south to northern GA and AL. | |
| Abundance | Common in the Mountains and the upper Piedmont; uncommon to infrequent in the central and lower Piedmont. | |
| Habitat | Freshwater marshes, beaver ponds, streamsides, seepages, swampy woods, bogs. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting July-September. | |
| Identification | The stems are 3-4 feet tall, with a diffusely branched (spreading) inflorescence that is tan or straw-colored (vs. much darker in S. georgianus and S. hattorianus). The stems have 14-22 leaves (vs. 12 or fewer leaves in the two species just named). It also resembles S. expansus, but Leafy Bulrush lacks the red banding on the stem leaf sheaths that are easily visible on S. expansus stems. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
Note that the genus Schoenoplectus has been split from Scirpus and includes plants with sessile spikelets, or with spikelets with a few branches (vs. open, widely branching inflorescences). Most of our Schoenoplectus species appear to have no leaves (exceptions are S. etuberculatus and S. subterminalis), whereas Scirpus taxa have well-developed basal and stem leaves. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S4 [S5] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
