Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis cellulosa |
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purple spike-rush |
Gulf Coast spikerush, Gulfcoast spikesedge |
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Habit | Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. | Plants perennial; rhizomes 1–4 mm thick, soft to hard, longer internodes 3–7.5 cm, scales 5 mm, tubers absent. |
Culms | 2–12(–19) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
terete or obtusely trigonous, 30–80 cm × 1–5 mm, soft to hard, not septate-nodulose, internally spongy, transverse septa incomplete; plants never forming filiform, flaccid culms. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent, membranous, apex acute to acuminate, often prolonged into a slender awn to 4 mm. |
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. |
not proliferous, 14–54 × 3–5.6 mm; rachilla joints without winglike remnants of floral scales; proximal scale empty, amplexicaulous, 2.5–4.9 mm; floral scales 40–180, 2–3 per mm of rachilla, stramineous to pale brown, flanks sometimes minutely dotted reddish, usually with pale to dark brown, reddish, or purplish submarginal band, obovate to suborbicular, widest in middle, 3.4–4.5(–6) × 3–4.8 mm, cartilaginous, membranous toward margins, margins broadly translucent, membranous, apex rounded. |
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 6–7, medium brown to pale brown or reddish, slender, proximally slightly flattened, subequal to unequal, mostly exceeding achene, 2–3.4 mm, smooth or sometimes finely retrorsely spinulose; anthers reddish brown, 1.7–2.5 mm; styles 3-fid. |
Achenes | black, obovoid, biconvex, 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.4 mm, apex often constricted proximal to tubercle, smooth at 40X. |
brown, biconvex, obpyriform, 2.2–2.8 × 1.3–1.9 mm, markedly sculptured at 10–15X, each face with (17–)20–24 rows of isodiametric to slightly transversely elongated cells, apex narrowed to a stout, often pale, spongy region 0.8–1.1 mm wide at base, 1/2–3/4 of achene width. |
Tubercles | stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm, apex acute. |
dark brown, lamelliform to pyramidal, 0.1–0.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm. |
2n | = 20. |
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Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis cellulosa |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall (Jun–Sep). | Fruiting late spring–winter. |
Habitat | Canal banks, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lake and pond margins, maritime shores, rice fields | Brackish to saline marshes, shores, ditches, mostly coastal, often abundant or dominant |
Elevation | 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft) | 0 (Florida)–600 (Arkansas, Texas) m (0 (Florida)–2000 (Arkansas, Texas) ft) |
Distribution |
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
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AL; AR; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Nicaragua)
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 102. | FNA vol. 23, p. 118. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Limnochloa |
Sibling taxa | ||
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: 298. (1836) |
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