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Occasional in or beside fresh water where soil is rich, often growing with Common Reed. Sometimes planted in managed water-bodies. Plant to 3 m tall. Dark brown female flower spike c 18-30 mm wide. Leaves c 10-18 mm wide. ID: Has a slender straw-coloured male spike above a sturdy dark brown sausage-shaped female spike, without a gap between them, or with a gap of up to 2 cm on a minority of stems. If there is a gap of > 2 cm and the female spike is narrow, more like a pencil than a sausage, then we have Lesser Bulrush (T angustifolia) which is rare in the region. Other features: Leaves long, narrow, Iris-like, overtopping the flower spikes. The spikes flower in July-August and then gradually break up over the winter to release thousands of Dandelion-like feathery seeds.
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Photo ©
Keith Robson  Shibdon Pond 06-Aug-2009_1440.jpg)
