Flora of North America species comparison

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Eleocharis albida

white spikerush
Habit Plants perennial; rhizomes soft, longer internodes 2–4 cm, cortex loose, scales fugaceous, 6 mm, thinly membranous and translucent.
Culms

not rooting at tips, terete, 10–40 cm, soft to firm, smooth.
Leaves

distal leaf sheaths proximally brownish or sometimes reddish, distally stramineous to green.
Spikelets

ovoid to oblong-subcylindric, 4–12 × 2–3.5 mm, apex acute to rounded;

proximal scale empty, clasping 1/2 of culm, like floral scales;

subproximal 1 or 2 scales often empty;

floral scales 20–100, 10 per mm of rachilla, entirely stramineous or sometimes red-brown, ovate, (1.5–)2–2.5 × 1.5 mm, apex broadly rounded, entire.
Flowers

perianth bristles (5–)6(–8), brown, stout, the longer equaling achene or tubercle, retrorsely spinulose;

stamens 3;

anthers brown, 1 mm.
Achenes

falling with scales, obovoid, angles keeled, 0.8–1 × 0.7–0.8 mm, apex with short neck.
Tubercles

whitish to brown, mammillate to pyramidal, 0.2–0.3 × 0.3–0.35 mm, 1/3 or less as wide as achene.

Eleocharis albida
Phenology Fruiting summer.
Habitat Coastal saltmarsh edges, sloughs, beaches, dune depressions, ditches
Elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NM; SC; TX; Mexico; Bermuda
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In most spikelets, the bright brown stigmas contrast strikingly with the stramineous floral scales. We have not seen vouchers for H. K. Svenson’s (1937) reports of Eleocharis albida from Virginia. The collections we have seen from Maryland are from the 1800s.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 23, p. 99.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Albidae
Sibling taxa
E. acicularis, E. aestuum, E. ambigens, E. atropurpurea, E. baldwinii, E. bella, E. bernardina, E. bicolor, E. bifida, E. bolanderi, E. brachycarpa, E. brittonii, E. cancellata, E. cellulosa, E. coloradoensis, E. compressa, E. cylindrica, E. decumbens, E. diandra, E. elliptica, E. elongata, E. engelmannii, E. equisetoides, E. erythropoda, E. fallax, E. flavescens, E. geniculata, E. intermedia, E. interstincta, E. kamtschatica, E. lanceolata, E. macrostachya, E. mamillata, E. melanocarpa, E. microcarpa, E. minima, E. montana, E. montevidensis, E. nana, E. nigrescens, E. nitida, E. obtusa, E. obtusetrigona, E. occulta, E. ovata, E. pachycarpa, E. palustris, E. parishii, E. parvula, E. quadrangulata, E. quinqueflora, E. radicans, E. ravenelii, E. retroflexa, E. reverchonii, E. robbinsii, E. rostellata, E. suksdorfiana, E. tenuis, E. torticulmis, E. tortilis, E. tricostata, E. tuberculosa, E. uniglumis, E. vivipara, E. wolfii
Name authority Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York. 3: 304. (1836)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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