Annual herb with 1 mm wide rhizomes, tufted 2 cm - 0.5 m tall

Leaves: one, to as long as culm. Sheath fronts not bearing pinnate fibers. Ligules membranous. Blade zero or one, tiny or longer than sheath by 0.5 mm, 0.5 - 1 mm wide, C-shaped in cross-section, parallel-veined.

Inflorescence: composed of one to fifteen spikelets, terminal, subtended by bracts. Lowest bract leaf-like, upright or diverging, 0.5 - 15 cm long, nearly circular in cross-section and channeled.

Flowers: minute, subtended by a floral scale, lacking sepals and petals, bearing four to six bristles (rarely one to three). Bristles brown, slender, equal to or to two times longer than achene, distinctly wider basally, strap-like, bearing many small spines. Stamens three, exserted. Anthers about 0.5 mm long. Pistil one. Style linear, two-cleft or both two- and three-cleft.

Fruit: a one-seeded achene, brown, becoming darker, 1.5 - 2 mm long (including beak), 1 - 1.5 mm wide, wedge-shaped to reverse egg-shaped with a tapering base, beaked, flat on one side and convex on the other or unequally biconvex, sometimes three-sided, finely longitudinally ridged at 20X to 30X.

Culm: decumbent to arching, 2 cm - 0.5 m long, 0.5 - 1.5 mm wide, circular in cross-section, solid, internally spongy with air cavities.

Spikelets: solitary or in clusters, 5 - 12 mm long, 3 - 4 mm wide, circular in cross-section, with eight or more floral scales. Floral scales spirally arranged, orangish brown to straw-colored with a greenish midrib and tiny lines or spots, 2.5 - 3 mm long, 1.5 - 2 mm wide, reverse egg-shaped with a rounded apex bearing a tiny point, minutely hairy-fringed towards the apex (at 20X). The lower scales of the spikelet often bear two to ten distinct ribs along their flanks.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Habitat and ecology: Wet areas.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Schoenoplectus comes from the Greek words schoinos, meaning rush or reed, and plectos, meaning twisted, plaited, or woven, referring to the use of the culms for making useful objects. Smithii is named after Charles Eastwick Smith (1820-1900), the English botanist who discovered this species. Setosus means bristly.

Author: The Morton Arboretum