Vegatation Definitions

[ikeslayer]

So i am just wondering what the difference is between pencil reeds, Bullrushes, and Wildrice are?? And picture always help if anyone has any.

ike

[EBass]

I know 2 of the 3 you speak of. I don't have any pics.

Have you been to Medicine lake before? French Park is where the boat ramp is and right out in front of the boat ramp are some pencil reeds. They are about as thick as a pencil (hmm) and grow pretty tall out of the water until the weight bends them. They are tough to fish and hard to get snags out. They also grow on hard bottoms.

Wild Rice would be found futher north. Similar to pencil reeds but not as tall or tough, and pencil reeds are up north to.

I'm sure I've seen bullrushes, but am I confusing that with cattails? I dunno

[french_lake_kid]

I'm pretty sure but not positive that bullrushes are the same as cat-tails maybe just w/o the accual cat-tail itself. Possibly the same plant just different names. I dono?

[RK]

Hiya -

Pencil reeds, rushes, and bulrushes are the same thing. Just different common names for the same plant: Bulrushes

Not to split hairs, but Bulrushes aren't a reed - true reeds are hollow...

Wild rice grows flat to the water early in the season until it heads out: Wild Rice

Cattails are, well, cattails: Cattails

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Daze Off]

Rob - now I am confused - what I refer to as pencil reeds was described well above - sandy flats, pencil size, never a cattail, falling over, some stalks seem to have a small bulb-like growth at the end etc. Can be in found in 6-8 fow or even deeper I would guess. What I know as bulrushes are also called cattails and are very different and found mostly in boggy/muddy and shallow areas and produce cattails and are much wider bladed. I do not know enough about wild rice to comment as I have not (knowingly) fished it enough to recall what it looks like.

They may be related in some way but they are most definately not the same thing.

Extending the discussion, I would like to find a photo description of submerged vegetation. I know milfoil, cabbage, curly pondweed, duckweed (actually floating), and coontail but have no clue about others. For example, there is something I call snot-grass that grows in cloud-like shapes and is very nasty to get off your baits but I have no idea what it is really called.

Don't mean to hijack the post - we can start another if anyone is interested.

Daze Off

[Black_Bay]

Rob described the veggies very well. Daze what you are calling bulrush are actually cattails Typha latifolia . They are a totally different species of plant from bulrush. The green snot is called filamentous algae, but snot grass is a better name.

Hopefully this site is ok with the mods. http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/welcome.html It's a pretty good source for plant identification.

[EBass]

Thanks RK! I was only confused with the name and not the plant.