Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis nigrescens |
|
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purple spike-rush |
black spikerush |
|
Habit | Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. | Plants usually annual, tufted, not stoloniferous; rhizomes absent. |
Culms | 2–12(–19) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
sometimes ascending, subterete, elliptic, or polygonal, (1–)3–7.5(–9) cm × 0.2–0.5 mm, very soft. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent or disintegrating, colorless, stramineous or green, spotted red-brown to purple, membranous, apex narrowly acute. |
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. |
basal spikelets absent; never proliferous, ovoid or ellipsoid, terete, 2–4.7(–8.5) × 1–2 mm, apex acute to blunt; proximal scale empty or with flower, persistent, clasping 1/2 of culm, similar to floral scales (but 1.1–1.7 mm, midrib region broadly green); subproximal scale with a flower; floral scales spiraled, 10–30(–100), 10–16 per mm of rachilla, colorless, whitish, or pale brown, mottled red-brown to purple, midribs pale brown or green, ovate or elliptic, 1–1.2 × 0.45–0.6 mm, membranous, midrib prominent, 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 absent; stamens 1; anthers 0.2–0.3 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. |
colorless (appearing green-brown from enclosed seed) or whitish, sometimes spotted red-brown, obovoid, trigonous, angles prominent, 0.5–0.6 × 0.33–0.4 mm, apex constricted proximal to tubercle, smooth. |
Tubercles | stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm, apex acute. |
white, gray or pale brown, pyramidal or umbonate, trigonous, 0.1–0.15 × 0.15–0.2 mm. |
2n | = 20. |
|
Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis nigrescens |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall (Jun–Sep). | Fruiting summer–winter. |
Habitat | Canal banks, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lake and pond margins, maritime shores, rice fields | Moist terrestrial sites such as sandy and peaty soils on pond margins, ditches, pine flatwoods |
Elevation | 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft) | 0–30 m (0–100 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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FL; SC; Mexico; South America; West Indies; Bermuda; Africa |
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.) |
Usually all the floral scales fall from the rachilla at maturity. The achene epidermis is usually translucent, revealing the brown color of the enclosed seed. Clarification of delimitation of Eleocharis microlepis (Grisebach) D. A. Simpson, E. setifolia, (A. Richard) A. Raynal, and E. nigrescens in the Americas requires further investigation (D. A. Simpson 1988). Specimens from North America treated herein as E. nigrescens seem to agree well with Simpson’s illustration of E. nigrescens; the anther length of 0.2–0.3 mm recorded here is closer to that of E. microlepis. Simpson (pers. comm.) has not examined specimens of either E. nigrescens or E. microlepis from North America, and lists both E. microlepis and E. setifolia from the West Indies and only E. setifolia from South America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 102. | FNA vol. 23, p. 93. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Tenuissimae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus atropurpureus | Scirpidium nigrescens |
Name authority | (Retzius) J. Presl & C. Presl: in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 196. (1828) | (Nees) Steudel: Syn. Pl. Glumac. 2: 77. (1854) |
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