Bulrush - Typha latifolia
 Bulrush - Typha latifolia© Dr Chris Gibson/English NatureThe respective names of this plant, and that of its close relative, Typha angustifolia, have been the source of confusion for many years. This one was once almost always called reedmace but became known as bulrush (or sometimes bull-rush) after a painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. His Moses in the Bulrushes showed the baby in a basket among plants which are clearly of the genus Typha. After that, the name bulrush, formerly applied exclusively to Scirpus (or Schoenoplectus) lacustris attached itself to Typha latifolia (and lesser bulrush to T. angustifolia) and many botanists have now given up the argument that these are incorrect. An amusing twist to this already contorted tale is that if the story of Moses having been found among waterside plants is actually correct, then they were almost certainly a variety of papyrus: with more botanical precision, probably Cyperus papyrus. Whatever you call it, the plant is indisputably tall, erect, deciduous and aquatic and has broad, lance-shaped, grey-green leaves. The long 'poker-like' brown seed head has no gap in it between the male and female parts. Bulrush is invasive in shallow water and it should only be grown in ponds where deep water will limit its spread. Blue tits and more specialist seed-eating birds are often attracted to the large flower-heads, which can also harbour the larvae of the rush wainscott moth and Webb's moth. Several species of bug and beetle overwinter in the dead leaf sheaths. AnimalsBeetles, Blue tit, Bugs, Moths, Water vole | Foliage | Green | | Flower | Brown, July to September | | Moisture |  (Wet) | | Sunlight |  (Full sun) | | Origin | Native |
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