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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | » Stats |
Members: 32,207
Threads: 48,325
Posts: 523,738
Top Poster: glsammy (13,193) | | Welcome to our newest member, eug | | |
Welcome to the Wild About Britain forums | | | |  | 
01-11-2009, 10:15 PM
|  | Wild Member | | Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 131
| | | Reed mace or bulrush? We are having a long-running discussion about whether to call reed mace reed mace or bulrush. Most members of the public that I deal with know them as bulrush (and I did until 10 years ago), and some books call them bulrush. Is that now the accepted name, or are we to dig our heels in and keep calling them reed mace? | 
01-11-2009, 11:30 PM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Trannon Valley, Mid-Wales
Posts: 839
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Don't you mean Cattails?
I used to get quite insistent on them being called reed mace but I think that battle has been lost. Peatlands | Plants | Bulrush
Steve | 
01-11-2009, 11:41 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Drenched Cumbria
Posts: 1,344
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? It's Reedmace. Bullrush is a different plant but I know what you're getting at.
Reedmace was always Bullrush to me as a child and it sticks. That's the way common names can be confusing.
__________________ Better to be approximately right than exactly wrong. | 
02-11-2009, 05:44 AM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,435
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Bulrush can be used as a vernacular for 2 unrelated groups of plants - the club-rushes (the original bulrush) + reedmaces (Typha); so bulrush is rather ambiguous unless the other person knows which plant you mean. | 
02-11-2009, 07:06 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Suffolk Coast
Posts: 1,317
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Hoary old chestnut !!!
But do you know why the confusion exists?? Well this is what I was taught
by a botanist - though I haqe had a quick google and I can't confirm it ;-(
All down to a well known Bible picture, that I had in my first Bible,
entitled "Moses in the Bulrushes" with Reed-mace clearly shown.
I was told that when the artist did the picture it looked boring and so
added the Reed-mace, and people just assumed that the reed-mace
was a bulrush.
Anyone know the truth?? | 
02-11-2009, 09:52 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,546
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Quote:
Originally Posted by Hobjob Hoary old chestnut !!!
But do you know why the confusion exists?? Well this is what I was taught
by a botanist - though I haqe had a quick google and I can't confirm it ;-(
All down to a well known Bible picture, that I had in my first Bible,
entitled "Moses in the Bulrushes" with Reed-mace clearly shown.
I was told that when the artist did the picture it looked boring and so
added the Reed-mace, and people just assumed that the reed-mace
was a bulrush.
Anyone know the truth?? | I have heard that theory - but I have never seen any evidence to support it. I would be very interested if anyone can discover any.
henrya
__________________ Sometimes ice cream just has to take priority over everything. | 
02-11-2009, 12:28 PM
|  | Active Member | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Beverley, East Yorkshire
Posts: 68
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Quote:
Originally Posted by rangersarah2 We are having a long-running discussion about whether to call reed mace reed mace or bulrush. Most members of the public that I deal with know them as bulrush (and I did until 10 years ago), and some books call them bulrush. Is that now the accepted name, or are we to dig our heels in and keep calling them reed mace? | Hi Sarah
I'll start with a question: How would you respond to someone who called Dunnock a Hedge Sparrow?
To my way of thinking there is no difference between the two common misconceptions,whatever the reason.
Dave
__________________ comes iucundus in via pro vehiculo est | 
02-11-2009, 01:21 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Drenched Cumbria
Posts: 1,344
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Sorry for butting in Dave but the birds are one and the same. The plants are two seperate species.
__________________ Better to be approximately right than exactly wrong. | 
02-11-2009, 02:09 PM
|  | Active Member | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Beverley, East Yorkshire
Posts: 68
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Hi Woodman
I think you missed the point, the Dunnock is not actually a sparrow and a Reed Mace is not a Bullrush,my argument is that both have misleading common names which suggest they are members of another species altogether.
Dave
__________________ comes iucundus in via pro vehiculo est | 
02-11-2009, 02:36 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Drenched Cumbria
Posts: 1,344
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? I take you point Dave, I was looking from another angle.
Where does Hedge Accentor come in ?
__________________ Better to be approximately right than exactly wrong. | 
02-11-2009, 06:15 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,435
| | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Quote:
Originally Posted by The Woodman I take you point Dave, I was looking from another angle.
Where does Hedge Accentor come in ?  | Accentor is a genus of insectivorous birds. Dunnock is our only regular species, but Alpine Accentor does turn up as a rare vagrant on a very irregular basis from European alpine habitats. There are more species in central Asia with about 5 species in the Tien Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan. | 
02-11-2009, 06:39 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Suffolk Coast
Posts: 1,317
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Bulrush - Typha latifolia
The respective names of this plant, and that of its close relative, Typha angustifolia, have been the source of confusion for many years. This one was once almost always called reedmace but became known as bulrush (or sometimes bull-rush) after a painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. His Moses in the Bulrushes showed the baby in a basket among plants which are clearly of the genus Typha. After that, the name bulrush, formerly applied exclusively to Scirpus (or Schoenoplectus) lacustris attached itself to Typha latifolia (and lesser bulrush to T. angustifolia) and many botanists have now given up the argument that these are incorrect. Bulrush - Typha latifolia - Natural England
Support, not definitive proof though | 
02-11-2009, 09:35 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,546
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Quote:
Originally Posted by Hobjob Bulrush - Typha latifolia
The respective names of this plant, and that of its close relative, Typha angustifolia, have been the source of confusion for many years. This one was once almost always called reedmace but became known as bulrush (or sometimes bull-rush) after a painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. His Moses in the Bulrushes showed the baby in a basket among plants which are clearly of the genus Typha. After that, the name bulrush, formerly applied exclusively to Scirpus (or Schoenoplectus) lacustris attached itself to Typha latifolia (and lesser bulrush to T. angustifolia) and many botanists have now given up the argument that these are incorrect. Bulrush - Typha latifolia - Natural England
Support, not definitive proof though  |
This story is spoilt by the fact that Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema does not seem to have painted a picture of this title or appearance. He did paint "The Finding of Moses" but the baby is not hidden in a basket among plants of any kind. He is being carried in a basket by two young ladies - some white flowers dangle from the basket, and the bottom of the picture is framed with what appear to be delphiniums. Not a Reedmace in sight.
henrya
__________________ Sometimes ice cream just has to take priority over everything. | 
04-11-2009, 03:32 PM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Meols, Wirral
Posts: 975
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? I am one of the diehards who will never accept 'bulrush' as a valid name for Typha Latifolia.
I don't know about the painting story but there is something similar in the pronunciation of 'gnu'. The official pronunciation is 'noo' but since Flanders and Swann ('I'm a gnu') pretty well everyone says 'g-noo'.
I'd better not get started on the pronunciation of 'deity'.... The Gnu Song
A year ago, last Thursday I was strolling in the zoo
when I met a man who though he knew the lot.
He was laying down the law about the habits of Baboons
And how many quills a porcupine has got.
So I asked him: 'What's that creature there?'
He answered: 'Oh, H'it's a H'elk'
I might of gone on thinking that was true,
If the animal in question hadn't put that chap to shame
And remarked: 'I h'aint a H'elk. I'm a Gnu!'
'I'm a Gnu, I'm a Gnu
The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo
I'm a Gnu, How do you do
You really ought to k-now w-ho's w-ho's
I'm a Gnu, Spelt G-N-U
I'm g-not a Camel or a Kangaroo
So let me introduce,
I'm g-neither man nor moose
Oh g-no g-no g-no I'm a Gnu'
I had taken furnished lodgings down at Rustington-on-Sea
Whence I travelled on to Ashton-under-Lyne it was actually
And the second night I stayed there I was woken from a dream
That I'll tell you all about some other time
Among the hunting trophies on the wall above my bed
Stuffed and mounted, was a face I thought I knew;
A Bison? No, it's not a Bison. An Okapi? Unlikely, Really. A Hartebeest?
When I thought I heard a voice: 'I'm a Gnu!'
I'm a Gnu, ,A g-nother gnu
I wish I could g-nash my teeth at you!
I'm a Gnu, How do you do
You really ought to k-now w-ho's w-ho.
I'm a Gnu Spelt G-N-U,
Call me Bison or Okapi and I'll sue
G-nor am I the least
Like that dreadful Hartebeest,
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no,
G-no g-no g-no I'm a Gnu
G-no g-no g-no I'm a Gnu | 
05-11-2009, 04:43 PM
|  | Wild Member | | Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 131
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Brilliant poem. Had me giggling for ages.
I tend to use both names when I am talking to people, but I would love to be a purist about reedmace/bulrushes.
Things that have two names do cause confusion too, like the dunnock. Mountain ash and rowan is another one. | 
07-11-2009, 03:53 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: West Molesey, Surrey
Posts: 2,695
| | | Re: Reed mace or bulrush? Greater Reed Mace Typha latifolia was colloquially known as Bulrush for as long as I can remember. It now appears to have been adopted as the official name, which is slightly confusing as the Common Bulrush a completely different plant has now been rebranded as Common Club-rush. At least I think that's the latest taxonomy on the matter. I'm sure someone will correct me.
Greater Reedmace is what I call it.
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