''Schoenoplectus acutus'' (
syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of
sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...
in the
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
family
Cyperaceae, native to
freshwater marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
es all over
North America.
The common name derives from the
Nāhuatl word ''tōllin'' , and it was first applied by the early settlers from
New Spain who recognized the
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
plants in the
Central Valley of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
as similar to those in the marshes around
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
.
Tules once lined the shores of
Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake () ( Spanish: ''Laguna de Tache'', Yokuts: ''Pah-áh-su'') is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century ...
in California, formerly the largest freshwater lake in the western United States. It was drained by land speculators in the 20th century. The expression "out in the tules" is still common, deriving from the dialect of old Californian families and meaning "where no one would want to live", with a touch of irony. The phrase is comparable to "out in the
boondocks
The boondocks is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word ''bundók'' ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by c ...
".
''Schoenoplectus acutus'' has a thick, rounded green
stem growing to tall, with long, grasslike
leaves, and
radially symmetrical
Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a pla ...
, clustered, pale brownish
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s. Tules at shorelines play an important
ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
role, helping to buffer against wind and water forces, thereby allowing the establishment of other types of plants and reducing
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
. Tules are sometimes cleared from
waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...
s using
herbicides. When erosion occurs, tule
rhizomes are replanted in strategic areas.
The two
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
are:
*''Schoenoplectus acutus'' var. ''acutus'' – northern and eastern North America
*''Schoenoplectus acutus'' var. ''occidentalis'' – southwestern North America
History and culture
![Schoenoplectus acutus FWS-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Schoenoplectus_acutus_FWS-1.jpg)
Dyed and woven, tules are used to make baskets, bowls, mats, hats, clothing, duck decoys, and even boats by
Native American groups. Before the
Salish got horses for bison hunting, they lived in tents covered with sewed mats of tule. At least two tribes, the
Wanapum
The Wanapum tribe of Native Americans formerly lived along the Columbia River from above Priest Rapids down to the mouth of the Snake River in what is now the US state of Washington. About 60 Wanapum still live near the present day site of Pri ...
and the
Pomo people
The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small gr ...
, constructed tule houses as recently as the 1950s and still do for special occasions.
Bay Miwok
The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating ...
,
Coast Miwok
Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Poi ...
, and
Ohlone peoples used the tule in the manufacture of canoes or
balsa
''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...
s, for transportation across the San Francisco Bay and using the marine and wetland resources.
Northern groups of
Chumash Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California
See also
*Chumash traditional n ...
used the tule in the manufacture of canoes rather than the sewn-plank ''tomol'' usually used by Chumash and used them to gather marine harvests.
The Paiutes named a neighboring tribe the
Si-Te-Cah in their language, meaning tule eaters. The young sprouts and shoots can be eaten raw and the rhizomes and unripe flower heads can be boiled as vegetables.
One of the few Pomo survivors of the
Bloody Island Massacre (also called the Clear Lake Massacre) in Northern California, a 6-year-old girl named ''Ni'ka'' (also known as Lucy Moore) evaded the
U.S. Cavalry
The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861.Price (1883) p. 103, 104 This act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one r ...
by hiding behind the tule reeds in the bloodied water.
Her descendants have since formed the Lucy Moore Foundation to work for better relations between the Pomo and residents of California.
It is so common in
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
s in California that several places in the state were named for it, including
Tulare (a ''tulare'' is a tule marsh).
Tule Lake
Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon.
Geography
Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The eleva ...
is near the Oregon border and includes
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge
The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northern California near the Oregon border. It covers in the Tule Lake basin. It is part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is ...
. It was the site of an
internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, imprisoning 18,700 people at its peak. The town of
Tulelake
Tulelake ( ) is a city in northeastern Siskiyou County, California, United States. The town is named after nearby Tule Lake. Its population is 902 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,010 from the 2010 census.
Tulelake peace officers are author ...
is northeast of the lake. California also has a
Tule River
The Tule River, also called Rio de San Pedro or Rio San Pedro, is a river in Tulare County in the U.S. state of California. The river originates in the Sierra Nevada east of Porterville and consists of three forks, North, Middle and South. The ...
. The
Tule Desert is located in Arizona and Nevada. Nevada also has
Tule Springs
Tule Springs is one of the larger urban retreats in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Las Vegas Valley. It is a significant desert ecosystem consisting of a series of small lakes that formed an oasis in this area of the Mojave Desert. Both the springs ...
.
California's dense, ground-hugging
tule fog
Tule fog () is a thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California's Central Valley. Tule fog forms from late fall through early spring (California's winter season) after the first significant rai ...
is named for the plant, as are the
tule elk
The tule elk (''Cervus canadensis nannodes'') is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule (), a ...
and
tule perch
The tule perch ''Hysterocarpus traskii'' is a surfperch ( Embiotocidae) native to the rivers and estuaries of central California, United States of America. It is the sole member of its genus, and the only freshwater surfperch.
The tule perch is ...
. The
giant garter snake
The giant garter snake (''Thamnophis gigas'') is the largest species of garter snake. Relatively rare, it is a semi-aquatic snake with a limited distribution in the wetlands of central California.
Description
The giant garter snake is the larges ...
(''Thamnophis gigas'') was historically closely associated with tule marshes in California's Central Valley.
Uses
Flour can be made by peeling and cutting up the older roots, crushing and boiling them, removing any fiber, and drying.
The seeds can also be ground and mixed with the root flour.
Notes
Further reading
*
External links
Tule Boat Photo Galleryat wpn.org
Ohlone, launched on Lake Merced, San Francisco, at nativecc.com
Tule reed canoe Modoc, at NPS.gov
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15628951
Flora of California
Reed boats
Indigenous peoples of California topics
History of the San Joaquin Valley
Natural history of the Central Valley (California)
Flora of North America
acutus
Flora of the Coachella Valley
Plants described in 1814
Taxa named by Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg
Flora without expected TNC conservation status