Tule
2071576
214876332
2008-05-25T18:27:26Z
Arch dude
1763779
dab
{{Taxobox
| name = Tule
| image = Schoenoplectus acutus var occidentalis.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' var. ''occidentalis''
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Poales]]
| familia = [[Cyperaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Schoenoplectus]]''
| species = '''''S. acutus'''''
| binomial = ''Schoenoplectus acutus''
| binomial_authority = (Muhl. ex Bigelow) A.& D.Löve
}}
The '''Tule''' (''Schoenoplectus acutus'', [[synonymy|syn.]] ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), also known as the '''common tule''', '''hardstem tule''', '''tule rush''', '''hardstem bulrush''', or '''viscid bulrush''', is a giant species of [[Cyperaceae|sedge]] in the [[plant]] family [[Cyperaceae]], native to [[fresh water|freshwater]] [[marsh|marshes]] all over [[North America]]. The word derives from the indigenous Mexican word ''tullin'' ([[Nahuatl]]=bulrush), and was first applied by the early settlers from [[New Spain]] who recognized the marsh plants in the [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] of [[California]] as similar to those in the marshes around [[Mexico City]]. It is generally pronounced "'''''too'''-lee''".
Tules once lined the shores of [[Tulare Lake]], California, formerly the largest freshwater lake in the western United States, until drained by land speculators in the twentieth century. The expression "out in the tules" is still common in the dialect of old Californian families and means "beyond far away."
It has a thick, rounded green [[plant stem|stem]] growing to 1-3 m tall, with long, grasslike [[leaf|leaves]], and [[symmetry (biology)#Radial symmetry|radially symmetrical]], clustered pale brownish [[flower|flowers]]. Tules at shorelines play an important [[ecology|ecological]] role, helping to buffer against wind and water forces, thereby allowing the establishment of other types of plants and reducing [[erosion]]. Tules are sometimes cleared from [[waterway]]s using [[herbicide]]s. When erosion occurs, tule [[rhizome]]s are replanted in strategic areas.
There are two [[variety (biology)|varieties]]:
*''Schoenoplectus acutus'' var. ''acutus''. Northern and eastern North America.
*''Schoenoplectus acutus'' var. ''occidentalis''. Southwestern North America.
==Impact on History and Culture==
[[Image:Schoenoplectusacutus.jpg|thumb|left|250px]]
It is so common in [[wetland]]s in California that several places in the state were named for it, including [[Tulare County, California|Tulare]] (a ''tulare'' is a tule marsh). The [[tule fog]] in California is also named for it. [[Tule Lake]] was an infamous segregation camp for Japanese-Americans during WWII, imprisoning 18,700 people at its peak.
Dyed and woven, tules are used to make baskets, bowls, mats, hats, clothing, duck decoys, and even boats by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] groups. At least one tribe, the [[Wanapum]], constructed tule houses as recently as the 1950s and still do for special occasions.
==See also==
*[[Tulare Lake]]
==Sources==
* Muntz, Philip A. ''A California Flora''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1973, copyright 1959
* Muntz, Philip A. ''A California Flora: Supplement''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1976 (p. 183 Scirpus lacutris, validus, glaucus.)
[[he:אגמון האגם]]
[[Category:Flora of California]]
[[Category:Cyperaceae]]
{{Poales-stub}}