Flowers in Israel: True bulrush

Scirpus lacustris, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Common Tule, True bulrush, Common Club-rush,

Hebrew: אגמון האגם, Arabic: الجولان البحيري

Scientific name:   Scirpus lacustris L.
Synonym name:   Schoenoplectus lacustris (L.) Palla var. tabernaemontani (C.C.Gmel.) A. & D.Loeve) A. & D.Loeve
Common name:   Common Tule, True bulrush, Common Club-rush
Hebrew name:   אגמון האגם
Arabic name:   الجولان البحيري
Family:   Cyperaceae, גמאיים


Life form:   helophyte
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, smooth
Flowers:   Brown
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August, September, October
Habitat:   Humid habitats
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Shrub-steppes
Chorotype:   Med – Euro-Siberian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Scirpus, the Latin name for “bulrush”.

lacustris, lacus, “lake, pond, pool; reservoir, tank”, and ustris, ester adjective suffix for nouns: origin or habitat; meaning: growing by lakes or ponds.
The word “Tule” derives from the indigenous Mexican word tullin (Nahuatl=bulrush), and was first applied by the early settlers from New Spain who recognized the marsh plants in the Central Valley of California as similar to those in the marshes around Mexico City. Comandante Pedro Fages, while hunting for deserters in 1772, discovered a great lake surrounded by marshes and filled with rushes which he named “Los Tules” (the tules).

The Hebrew name: אגמון, agmon, from אגם, agam, lake, pool, pond; marshland; reeds (growing on a lake-shore).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Palla is used to indicate Eduard Palla (1864 – 1922), an Austrian botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation C.C.Gmel. is used to indicate Carl Christian Gmelin (1762 – 1837), a German physician.
  • The standard author abbreviation A. & D.Loeve is used to indicate Askell Löve, (1916 -1994) & Doris Löve (1918 – 2000), an Icelandic systematic botanist & his wife Doris, a Swedish systematic botanist.

Scirpus lacustris has a round stem.