Schoenoplectus triqueter ("Sankakui")

Japanese name: サンカクイ （三角藺）
Scientific name: Schoenoplectus triqueter

[Overview]
A perennial 0.5–1 m tall, found in wetlands along ponds, marshes and riverbanks.
It has long-extending rhizomes and grows in colonies.
The roots emerge only from the base of the stem, not from the internodes of the rhizome.
The stems do not grow in tufts; they stand upright one at a time from the nodes, triangular-prism-shaped, 30–116 cm long and 0.2–1 cm wide, with no nodes above the base of the stem.
2–3 leaves are basal; the base forms a tubular leaf sheath 6–24 cm long, and a flat, linear blade 2–10 cm long is attached at its tip.
Spikelets gather at the stem tip to form the inflorescence, but because the involucral bract stands upright, the inflorescence appears to be lateral.
Several inflorescences emerge from one point, with usually unbranched branches, and each inflorescence bears 1 to several spikelets at its tip.
There is usually one involucral bract, 1.5–8 cm long, with nearly the same form as the stem.
The spikelets are ovate to ovate-oblong, 0.7–1.2 cm long, and the scales of the spikelet are broadly obovate, 0.4 cm long, with hairs on the upper margin that make it rough.
There are 3–5 bristle-like perianth segments, equal to or slightly longer than the fruit, rough in a downward direction.
The fruit is glossy brown, obovate, 0.2–0.3 cm long, and smooth.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
It prefers a sunny location.
Paddy soil is suitable for planting.
For potted plants, submerge the whole pot in water so that the base of the plant is under water.
The aboveground parts die back in winter, but do not let the water dry up at any time of the year.
From spring to autumn, push slow-release fertilizer or fermented oil cake into the soil.

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