Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Panicled bulrush
Scirpus microcarpus
Panicled bulrush is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 442 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Panicled bulrush at a glance
- Native in
- 442 counties, across 30 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 5.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Panicled bulrush is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 442 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 442 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 11 counties
- Arizona 7 counties
- California 47 counties
- Colorado 18 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 20 counties
- Illinois 1 county
- Iowa 2 counties
- Kentucky 1 county
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 17 counties
- Minnesota 19 counties
- Montana 4 counties
- Nebraska 2 counties
- Nevada 11 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 3 counties
- New Mexico 7 counties
- New York 35 counties
- North Dakota 21 counties
- Oregon 33 counties
- Pennsylvania 21 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Utah 17 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Washington 34 counties
- West Virginia 4 counties
- Wisconsin 37 counties
- Wyoming 15 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 38 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.4 to 7.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SCMI2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Scirpus microcarpus (PLANTS symbol SCMI2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources