Ethnobotanic: Hardstem bulrush is similar to the cattail in edibility, although it is purportedly sweeter. Young shoots coming up in the spring can be eaten raw or cooked. Bulrush pollen is eaten as flour in bread, mush or pancakes. Later in the season, the seeds can be beaten off into baskets or pails, ground into a similar meal and used as flour. The large rhizomes are eaten raw or cooked; sometimes they were dried in the sun, then pounded into a kind of flour. Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (synonym: Scirpus validus) , a similar species, has as much as 8% sugar and 5.5% starch in rhizomes, but less than 1% protein (Harrington 1972).
The rhizome (underground stem) is used for the black element in basket design. Rhizomes are obtained by digging around the plant and following them out from the parent plant. Often the green stalks are cut, to make the rooting area more accessible. Bulrushes are called black root by Pomo basket weavers in California; the cream-colored rhizome is dyed black for basketry designs. The rhizomes are soaked from 3 to 6 months with acorns and a piece of iron, ashes or walnut husks until a dark brown to black color is obtained. Rhizomes are then stored in coils to dry, then woven into coiled baskets. Only about the thickness of a toothpick, the split rhizomes are both flexible and strong.
Tule houses were common throughout many parts of California; the overlapping tule matters were well-insulated and rain-proof. Willow poles, arched and anchored into the ground and tied with cordage or bark formed the framework. The walls are thatched with mats of tule or cattail and secured to the frame. In Nevada, tules and willows were bound together in a sort of crude weaving for "Kani", the Paiute name for summerhouse. Tules and cattails were used as insulating thatch for structures matting, bedding, and roofing materials. As thatching material, these bulrushes were spread out in bundles, tied together, then secured in place with poles.
Several California Indian tribes make canoes of tule stems bound together with vines from wild grape. Groups located near the California coast, on mud flats and in marshes, used tule to make large round mud-shoes for their feet so they could walk without sinking. They also make dwellings of tule. Shredded tule was used for baby diapers, bedding, and menstrual padding. Women made skirts from tule. During inclement weather, men wore shredded tule capes, which tied around the neck and was belted at the waist. Duck decoys were made of tule.
Other Uses: Streambank stabilization, wetland restoration, wildlife food and shelter, edible (young shoots, pollen, seeds, rhizomes), basketry, houses, roofing material, matting, bedding, canoes. These native plants are especially good for stabilizing or restoring disturbed or degraded (including logged or burned) areas, for erosion and slope control, and for wildlife food and cover. Bulrushes may be less suitable for general garden use.
Wildlife: The seeds, being less hairy and larger than cattail, are one of the most important and commonly used foods of ducks and of certain marshbirds and shorebirds (Martin et al. 1951). Bulrushes provide choice food for wetland birds: American wigeon, bufflehead, mallard, pintail, shoveler, blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, greater scaup, lesser scaup, avocet, marbled godwit, clapper rail, Virginia rail, sora rail, long-billed dowitcher, and tricolored blackbird. Canada geese and white-fronted geese prefer the shoots and roots. The stems provide nesting habitat for blackbirds and marsh wrens. Fresh emergent wetlands are among the most productive wildlife habitats in California. They provide food, cover, and water for more than 160 species of birds and numerous mammals, reptiles and amphibians. The endangered Santa Cruz long-toed salamander and rare giant garter snake use these wetlands as primary habitat. The endangered Aleutian Canada goose, bald eagle, and peregrine falcon use these wetlands for feeding and roosting.
Muskrats have evolved with wetland ecosystems and form a valuable component of healthy functioning wetland communities. Muskrats use emergent wetland vegetation for hut construction and for food. Typically, an area of open water is created around the huts. Areas eaten out by muskrat increase wetland diversity by providing opportunities for aquatic vegetation to become established in the open water and the huts provide a substrate for shrubs and other plant species. Muskrats opening up the dense stands of emergent vegetation also create habitat for other species. Both beaver and muskrats often improve wetland habitat.
