The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

purple spike-rush

white spikerush

Habit Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. Plants perennial; rhizomes soft, longer internodes 2–4 cm, cortex loose, scales fugaceous, 6 mm, thinly membranous and translucent.
Culms

2–12(–19) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm.

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

Leaves

distal leaf sheaths firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute.

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

Spikelets

ovoid to ellipsoid, 2–6(–8) × 1–2.5 mm, apex acute;

proximal scale with or without flower, not amplexicaulous;

floral scales to 100, 15–19 per mm of rachilla, often loosely appressed, dark red-brown to stramineous, ovate to elliptic, 0.6–1.3 × 0.3–0.7 mm, membranous, apex rounded to acute.

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 (0–)4–6, typically 4, colorless to whitish, vestigial to 1/2 as long as achene, smooth or spinuliferous;

styles 2-fid.

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

stamens 3;

anthers brown, 1 mm.

Achenes

black, obovoid, biconvex, 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.4 mm, apex often constricted proximal to tubercle, smooth at 40X.

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

Tubercles

stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm, apex acute.

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

2n

= 20.

Eleocharis atropurpurea

Eleocharis albida

Phenology Fruiting summer–fall (Jun–Sep). Fruiting summer.
Habitat Canal banks, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lake and pond margins, maritime shores, rice fields Coastal saltmarsh edges, sloughs, beaches, dune depressions, ditches
Elevation 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft) 0 m (0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; FL; GA; IA; KS; LA; MI; MO; NC; NE; NM; OK; SC; TX; WA; BC; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Europe (naturalized); Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NM; SC; TX; Mexico; Bermuda
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eleocharis atropurpurea has been reported from Colorado, Montana, and Virginia; I have not seen voucher specimens.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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. 102. FNA vol. 23, p. 99.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Albidae
Sibling taxa
E. acicularis, E. aestuum, E. albida, E. ambigens, 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
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
Synonyms Scirpus atropurpureus
Name authority (Retzius) J. Presl & C. Presl: in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 196. (1828) Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York. 3: 304. (1836)
Web links