Sparganium eurycarpumEngelm.

big bur-reedbroadfruit bur-reedgreat bur-reed

WFO wfo-0000553910 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Sarah Culliton
fig. a Sarah Culliton, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203618106
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. b Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 151481886
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Daniel Das
fig. c Daniel Das, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149531035
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. d Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148647422
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Katherine Baird
fig. e Katherine Baird, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 148425279
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Eric Lamb
fig. f Eric Lamb, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184855683
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by Lisa Wiencek Gerbec
fig. g Lisa Wiencek Gerbec, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141054187
Sparganium eurycarpum, photographed by dghjertaas
fig. h dghjertaas, CC0 1.0 / obs. 185553300

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 57 botanical countries

Regions where Sparganium eurycarpum is native: Amur, Japan, Korea, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Primorye, Sakhalin, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming AmurJapanManchuriaPrimoryeSakhalinAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico NorthwestMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming KoreaDelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Sparganium eurycarpum, 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
Alberta ABT NORTHERN AMERICA
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 Central MXC
Mexico Northwest MXN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Amur AMU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril 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 282 in flower of 641 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Sparganium eurycarpum 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. 282 of 641 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 7 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.

  • Sparganium californicum Greene
  • Sparganium coreanum H.Lév.
  • Sparganium erectum subsp. stoloniferum (Buch.-Ham. ex Graebn.) C.D.K.Cook & M.S.Nicholls
  • Sparganium erectum var. macrocarpum (Makino) H.Hara
  • Sparganium macrocarpum Makino
  • Sparganium stoloniferum var. coreanum (H.Lév.) H.Hara
  • Sparganium stoloniferum var. macrocarpum (Makino) H.Hara

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.