Schoenoplectus californicus(C.A.Mey.) Soják

California bulrush

WFO wfo-0000526771 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Humber Alberto
fig. a Humber Alberto, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 194337544
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Eduardo Luis Beltrocco
fig. b Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195914328
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. c Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187625340
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Eduardo Luis Beltrocco
fig. d Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184728057
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. e Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176102442
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Nicolas Olejnik
fig. f Nicolas Olejnik, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172158882
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Leonel Roget
fig. g Leonel Roget, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171721881
Schoenoplectus californicus, photographed by Eduardo Luis Beltrocco
fig. h Eduardo Luis Beltrocco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167174040

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 41 botanical countries

Regions where Schoenoplectus californicus is native: Falkland Is., Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Easter Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Brazil South, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay Falkland Is.AlabamaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaFloridaGeorgiaKansasLouisianaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiNevadaNew MexicoNorth CarolinaOklahomaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaBrazil SouthChile CentralChile NorthChile SouthColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasParaguayPeruUruguay
Native distribution of Schoenoplectus californicus, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
California CAL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Kansas KAN
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
Nevada NEV
New Mexico NWM
North Carolina NCA
Oklahoma OKL
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Brazil South BZS
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN
Chile South CLS
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU
Falkland Is. FAL ANTARCTICA
Easter Is. EAS PACIFIC

Not drawn on the map: Easter Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Flowering 35 in flower of 57 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Schoenoplectus californicus observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 35 of 57 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 5 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 39 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.

  • Dichromena atrosanguinea É.Desv.
  • Elytrospermum californicum C.A.Mey.
  • Fimbristylis rigida Beetle
  • Malacochaete assimilis Ces.
  • Malacochaete chilensis Nees & Meyen ex Boeckeler
  • Malacochaete oligostachya Phil.
  • Malacochaete riparia Nees & Meyen
  • Malacochaete riparia var. chamissoi Nees
  • Malacochaete sanguinolenta Nees & Meyen ex Boeckeler
  • Malacochaete tatora (Kunth) Nees & Meyen
  • Malacochaete tatora Meyen
  • Schoenoplectus californicus subsp. tereticulmis (Steud.) Soják
  • Schoenoplectus californicus var. californicus
  • Schoenoplectus californicus var. spoliatus (Barros) Vegetti
  • Schoenoplectus californicus var. tereticulmis (Steud.) Vegetti
  • Schoenoplectus chamissoi (Nees) Soják
  • Schoenoplectus pseudotriqueter (Steud.) Soják
  • Schoenoplectus riparius (Nees & Meyen) Palla
  • Schoenoplectus tatora (Kunth) Palla
  • Scirpus atrosanguineus (É.Desv.) Skottsb.
  • Scirpus californicus (C.A.Mey.) Steud.
  • Scirpus californicus subsp. tatora (Kunth) T.Koyama
  • Scirpus californicus var. chamissoi (Nees) Beetle
  • Scirpus californicus var. paschalis (Kük.) Beetle

and 15 more.

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.