bulrush

plural bulrushes · alternative bullrush

1. biblicalA plant referred to in the story of Moses as growing along the banks of the Nile, which is believed to be the papyrus (Cyperus papyrus).

   “I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the Swallow. “To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract. The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon.”

   1888, Oscar Wilde, “The Happy Prince”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales, London: Duckworth, published 1928, page 25

2. Any of various tall, narrow-leaved plants growing near water, especially cattail or reedmace, in the genus Typha.
3. AmericasSedges in the genera Bolboschoenus or Schoenoplectus (formerly considered Scirpus), having clusters of spikelets.
4. AustraliaAny of various reed-like plants growing near water, especially Typha domingensis and Typha orientalis; cumbungi, wonga.First known use 18th c.

   Explorers Eyre, Kreft, and George Moore all refer to the importance of bulrush starch in different parts of the continent.

   2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 56