Plant · P-887

Softstem Bulrush

Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani

Softstem Bulrush is the reed that does the heavy lifting in a constructed wetland, its dense rhizome mat and the microbial film growing on it stripping nutrients and settling sediment out of slow-moving water. It is also a genuine food plant: the rhizome boils down to a sweet, translucent liquor like barley water, and the seed roasts and grinds into a nutty cereal meal. It needs standing water or saturated soil year-round and dies quickly if the bed dries out, but it tolerates brackish water and grows from the subarctic to the tropics. One catch - because it pulls metals and contaminants out of dirty water so well, anything harvested for eating has to come from clean water, not from a bed doing the filtering.