See quotations. The word is a dissyllable.
1846. We passed through several miles of tule, a species of rush, or reed, which here grows to the height of eight feet, on the wet and swampy soil.—Edwin Bryant, ‘What I saw in California,’ p. 224 (N.Y.). (Italics in the original.)
1849. The tule is a kind of rush, but grows higher and thicker than our common rush.—Theodore T. Johnson, ‘Sights in the Gold Region,’ p. 119 (N.Y.). (Italics in the original.)
1850. The shores [of the Sacramento River] were flat and marshy, being overgrown with thulé, a kind of light cane, while few trees of any size were to be seen.—James L. Tyson, ‘Diary in California,’ p. 54 (N.Y.).
1852. ‘Lost in the Tule.’—Sketch in the Knick. Mag., xxxix. 221–7 (March).
1860. As we passed along, we heard the whistling of elks in the tulés, but did not stop.—T. H. Hittell, ‘Adventures of J. C. Adams,’ pp. 344–5 (S.F.).
1870. Conspicuous among the natural products of this virgin soil [of California] are huge reeds, many of which attain to the height of ten feet. These are similar to the bulrushes of Scripture among which the infant Moses was concealed. Here they are called ‘Tules.’ The ground wheron they flourish is known by the name of the ‘Tule Lands.’—Rae, ‘Westward by Rail,’ p. 251 (Lond.).
1878. Tule is the Spanish or Indian name of a coarse reed which covers the entire tract, green during winter and spring, but now [in summer] as dry as tinder, and furnishing fuel for extended fires.—J. H. Beadle, ‘Western Wilds,’ p. 109. (Italics in the original.)
