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Common bulrush

 

 

The Estonian name of the plant, hundinui, meaning „wolf truncheon“, is probably a folk name originating from the colour: the spike is blackish brown – wolf-coloured. The bulrush is monoecious. The female flower spikes keep well; the male flowers grow in a somewhat more slender and lighter spike, and they perish after pollination. The spikes make the bulrush noticeable and decorative. In Estonia two bulrush species grow: the lesser bulrush has narrower, up to a centimetre wide leaves, a narrower spike and is lower-growing.

 

In one large bulrush inflorescence more than a million minute seeds ripen – in one gram there are about 11 000 seeds.

 

To preserve the spikes in dried plant arrangements they are covered with some varnish at hand.