A tall, slender water plant with round stems and dense, brown flower spikes, commonly found in marshes and wetlands.
From Old English, with uncertain first element (possibly 'bula' meaning 'bull,' suggesting large size) combined with 'rush' (Old English 'rysc,' the plant). The word may have origins in Proto-Germanic. Appears in the King James Bible, making it a word with deep cultural resonance.
Bulrushes appear in the Bible (the infant Moses hidden in bulrushes) and in countless wetland ecosystems, yet most people today couldn't identify one. This word survives in literature and place names long after the plants themselves have vanished from landscapes drained by agriculture. A plant's name often outlives its presence.
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