''Scheuchzeria palustris'' (Rannoch-rush, or pod grass), is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scheuchzeriaceae, in which there is only one species and ''Scheuchzeria'' is the only genus. In the

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gr ...

it is placed in the order

Alismatales The Alismatales (alismatids) are an order of flowering plants including about 4,500 species. Plants assigned to this order are mostly tropical or aquatic. Some grow in fresh water, some in marine habitats. Description The Alismatales comp ...

of the

monocots Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

.L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants
Scheuchzeriaceae
/ref>

Description

It is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where it grows in wet ''

Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s. It grows to 10–40 cm tall, with narrow linear leaves alternating up the stem, with a basal sheath. The leaves can be up to 20 cm. The leaf tips are blunt with a conspicuous pore. It has a creeping rhizome clothed in papery, straw coloured remains of old leaf bases. The

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 mechanism ...

s are greenish-yellow, 4–6 mm diameter, with six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s. They have an inflated sheathing base, 6

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

and 3 carpels. It flowers from June until AugustFlora of NW Europe
''Scheuchzeria palustris''
/ref>Flora of North America
''Scheuchzeria palustris''
/ref>Jepson Flora Project
''Scheuchzeria palustris''
/ref> There are two subspecies, not considered distinct by all authorities:USDA Plants Profile
''Scheuchzeria palustris''
/ref> *''Scheuchzeria palustris'' subsp. ''palustris''. Northern and eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, northern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. *''Scheuchzeria palustris'' subsp. ''americana'' (Fernald) Hultén. Northern North America.

Etymology

The genus is named after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

naturalist, and his brother,

Johann Gaspar Scheuchzer Johannes Gaspar Scheuchzer (1684 -1738) was a Swiss botanist and plant collector. He was the brother of Swiss scholar Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (2 August 1672 – 23 June 1733) was a Swiss scholar born at Zürich. H ...

.Helmut Genaust (1983): Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen, 2. Auflage. Birkhäuser Verlag - The species name is from the Latin for a swamp. The English name refers to its occurrence on Rannoch Moor in central

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, the first site in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

the species was known from, and only one where it currently occurs; it is extinct at a few other wetland sites further south in Britain, being found in pools and wet hollows of ancient undisturbed

bogs.Joint Nature Conservation Committe
Rannoch Moor
/ref>Wildassociates

File:ScheuchzeriaPalustris.jpg, Flowering plant Image:ScheuchzeriaPalustrisColl.jpg, Stem with seeds, left; winter stem, right Image:Scheuchzeria palustris Sturm3.jpg, 1796 illustration

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q156984 Monotypic Alismatales genera