Bulrush - Typha latifolia

Alternative names
Reedmace
Description

Vigorous, tall clump forming plant to 2 metres. Stout and creeping. Leaves are a pale greyish green, long and strap shaped 8 to 20 mm wide. Flower stems slightly shorter than the leaves, female part is dark brown, blotched with white on ageing up to 3 cm in diameter. The male part is straw coloured and continuous with the female part. The whole of the flowering section is up to 15 cm in length.

Similar Species

Lesser Reedmace

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Lakes, pond, rivers and marshes.

When to see it

July and August.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Fairly common nationally as far north as southern Scotland.

VC55 Status

Quite frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 238 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Great Reedmace, False Bulrush, Bulrush
Species group:
Grasses, Rushes & Sedges
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Poales
Family:
Typhaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
397
First record:
01/01/1979 (Patricia Evans)
Last record:
11/04/2025 (Higgott, Mike)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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