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Tufted clubrush • Trichophorum cespitosum, Scirpus cespitosus

Tufted clubrush (Trichophorum cespitosum)
Tufted clubrush  (Trichophorum cespitosum)
Tufted clubrush (Trichophorum cespitosum)
Photos by Natalie Graham (top left), Andrew Trant (bottom left), and Kelly Fretwell (right).
Identification
Tufted clubrush is a perennial sedge (despite its name) that grows in dense tufts, commonly forming tussocks. Its slender stems are smooth, tapered, circular in cross-section, and reach 10-40 cm tall. It has reduced, scale-like leaves at the stem base, and a single 5 mm long sheathing stem leaf just up from the base. Its terminal inflorescence is a brown spike composed of 2-4 flowers. The lowest bract of the spike has an elongated midvein that forms a blunt awn the length of the spike. It bears 2-3 egg-shaped seeds: click here for more detailed information on these seeds.

Habitat & Range
Tufted clubrush grows in bogs, fens, and wet meadows; along gravelly and peaty shorelines; and in wet tundra. It is common throughout BC from low to alpine elevations, and is found throughout much of North America. 

Similar Species
Low clubrush (Isolepis cernua) is a similar annual sedge found mostly in southwest BC and southward. White beak-rush (Rhyncospora alba) can also appear similar to tufted clubrush when neither plant is in flower.

iNaturalist
​https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/204169-Trichophorum-cespitosum

References
Pojar, J. and MacKinnon, A. (1994). Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: Lone Pine Publishing. P. 406.
Trichophorum cespitosum (L.) Hartm. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Ed.). E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Accessed 07/08/2014.

Authors and editors of page
Kelly Fretwell and Brian Starzomski (2014).
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