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Schoenoplectus acutus (syn. Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris subsp. acutus), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of Cyperaceae in the plant family Cyperaceae, native to freshwater marshes all over North America. The common name derives from the Nahuatl word tōllin , and it was first recognized by the early Spanish explorers and missionaries in New Spain who saw the marsh plants in the Central Valley of California as similar to those in the marshes around Mexico City being used to construct shelters by the indigenous inhabitants.
Dyed and woven, tules are used to make baskets, bowls, mats, hats, clothing, duck decoys, and even boats by Native American groups. Before the Salish got horses for bison hunting, they lived in tents covered with sewn mats of tule. At least two tribes, the Wanapum and the Pomo people, constructed tule houses as recently as the 1950s and still do for special occasions. Bay Miwok, Coast Miwok, and Ohlone peoples used the tule in the manufacture of canoes or balsas, for transportation across the San Francisco Bay and using the marine and wetland resources. Northern groups of Chumash people used the tule in the manufacture of canoes rather than the sewn-plank tomol usually used by Chumash and used them to gather marine harvests.
The Paiutes named a neighboring tribe the Si-Te-Cah in their language, meaning tule eaters. The young sprouts and shoots can be eaten raw and the rhizomes and unripe flower heads can be boiled as vegetables.
It is so common in in California that several places in the state were named for it, including Tulare (a tulare is a tule marsh). The city of Stockton was originally named Tuleberg by its founder, Charles Weber, and remains today as one of its many nicknames. Tule Lake is near the Oregon border and includes Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It was the site of an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, imprisoning 18,700 people at its peak. The town of Tulelake is northeast of the lake. California also has a Tule River. The Tule Desert is located in Arizona and Nevada. Nevada also has Tule Springs.
Tules once lined the shores of Tulare Lake in California, formerly the largest freshwater lake in the western United States, which disappeared due to agricultural development in the early 20th century. The expression "out in the tules" is still common, deriving from the dialect of old Californian families and meaning "where no one would want to live", with a touch of irony. The phrase is comparable to "out in the boondocks" or "out in the sticks".
California's dense, ground-hugging tule fog is named for the plant, as are the tule elk, tule perch, and tule goose (a subspecies of the greater white-fronted goose). The giant garter snake ( Thamnophis gigas) was historically closely associated with tule marshes in California's Central Valley.
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