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.
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.[1] Some species (e.g. S. lacustris) can reach a height of 3m (10feet), while S. sylvaticus is about 1.2abbr=onNaNabbr=on and others, such as S. supinus, are much smaller, only reaching NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) tall.
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.
(This list is incomplete, and may include some species now assigned to other genera.)
Several hundred fossil fruits of Scirpus ragozinii have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark.[2] Thirty-five fossil fruits of the extant Scirpus sylvaticus have been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.[3]
The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, found on every continent except Africa and Antarctica.[4]
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 used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Chedra microstigma[11] [12] and Scirpophaga nivella.[13] They provide habitat for other wildlife.
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.
it:Ian Francis Bell Common
. 1960 . A revision of the Australian Stem Borers hitherto referred to Schoenobius and Scirpophaga (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae, Schoenobiinae) . Australian Journal of Zoology . 8 . 2 . 307–347 . 10.1071/ZO9600307 . 9 December 2019.