Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis nitida |
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purple spike-rush |
neat spike-rush, quill spike-rush, quill spikesedge, slender spikerush, éléocharide brillante |
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Habit | Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. | Plants perennial, mat-forming; rhizomes evident, 0.3–0.5 mm thick, hard, cortex persistent, longer internodes 2 mm, scales persistent or fugaceous, 2–3 mm, membranous to papery, slightly fibrous. |
Culms | 2–12(–19) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
terete, 2–15 cm × 0.15–0.3 mm, firm to soft. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent, not splitting, proximally stramineous to reddish, distally green or stramineous to reddish, membranous, apex often red, obtuse to acute, tooth absent. |
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, 1–4 × 1–2 mm, obtuse to acute; proximal scale amplexicaulous, apex entire; subproximal scale with flower; floral scales spreading in fruit, 5–30, 8 per mm of rachilla, medium to very dark brown, midrib region often pale or greenish, broadly ovate, 1–1.3 × 1 mm, apex rounded, entire, not carinate. |
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 absent; stamens 3; anthers yellow, 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. |
persistent after scales fall, to dark yellow-orange or brown, broadly obpyriform, trigonous, angles evident, 0.6–0.65 × 0.5–0.55 mm, rugulose at 20–30X, 20 blunt horizontal ridges in each vertical series. |
Tubercles | stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm, apex acute. |
brown, greatly depressed, rudimentary, 0.05–15 × 0.15–0.3 mm. |
2n | = 20. |
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Eleocharis atropurpurea |
Eleocharis nitida |
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Phenology | Fruiting summer–fall (Jun–Sep). | Fruiting late spring (Jun)–summer. |
Habitat | Canal banks, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lake and pond margins, maritime shores, rice fields | Fresh bog pools, streams, disturbed places |
Elevation | 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft) | 30–400 m (100–1300 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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AK; MI; MN; NH; WI; NL; NS; ON; QC; SK |
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.) |
Eleocharis nitida is much like E. elliptica but all structures are smaller; intermediates are unknown. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 102. | FNA vol. 23, p. 86. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Eleocharis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus atropurpureus | |
Name authority | (Retzius) J. Presl & C. Presl: in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 196. (1828) | Fernald: Rhodora 8: 129. (1906) |
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