Bolboschoenus fluviatilis(Torr.) Soják

river bulrush

WFO wfo-0000341686 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. a Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-25 / obs. 155031039
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. b Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155045176
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Nina Kerr
fig. c Nina Kerr, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 140572342
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. d Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139590444
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Se Lena
fig. e Se Lena, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 127414759
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Owen Strickland
fig. f Owen Strickland, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 87023384
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. g Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 174292431
Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, photographed by nick_goldwater
fig. h nick_goldwater, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 58563555

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 50 botanical countries

Regions where Bolboschoenus fluviatilis is native: New South Wales, New Zealand North, Norfolk Is., Queensland, Alabama, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, New Caledonia New South WalesNew Zealand NorthQueenslandAlabamaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico NortheastMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinNew Caledonia Norfolk Is.Delaware
Native distribution of Bolboschoenus fluviatilis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Northeast MXE
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
New South Wales NSW AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand North NZN
Norfolk Is. NFK
Queensland QLD
New Caledonia NWC PACIFIC

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 647 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -14.7 °C -8.1 °C 9.9 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 21.4 °C 26.7 °C 29.1 °C
Annual rainfall 752 mm 989 mm 1,483 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 67 mm 180 mm 277 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 647 research-grade observations of Bolboschoenus fluviatilis that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 5 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Bolboschoenus maritimus subsp. fluviatilis (Torr.) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Schoenoplectus fluviatilis (Torr.) M.T.Strong
  • Scirpus fluviatilis (Torr.) A.Gray
  • Scirpus maritimus var. fluviatilis Torr.
  • Scirpus perviridis V.J.Cook

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.