Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis atropurpurea |
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beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush |
purple spike-rush |
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Habit | Plants annual, rarely perennial, usually densely tufted; rhizomes rarely evident, 0.2–0.3 mm thick, internodes 1–5 mm, scales not evident. | Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. |
Culms | often ascending or spreading, 4-angled or sometimes terete, sometimes sulcate, 1–7 cm × 0.2–0.3 mm, soft to firm. |
2–12(–19) cm × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
Leaves | sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute. |
Spikelets | ovoid, 1.5–4 × 0.8–2 mm, apex acute; floral scales 4–15, 8 per mm of rachilla, colorless or reddish brown, midrib region green, ovate-lanceolate, not folded lengthwise, 1–1.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm, mibrib obscure to somewhat keeled, apex narrowly acute to acuminate, slightly recurved. |
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. |
Flowers | perianth bristles absent; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm. |
perianth bristles (0–)4–6, typically 4, colorless to whitish, vestigial to 1/2 as long as achene, smooth or spinuliferous; styles 2-fid. |
Achenes | with angles and longitudinal ridges ca. 6–10, rather prominent, broadly ovoid, less than 2 times longer then wide, (0.55–)0.65–0.75 × 0.3–0.4 mm, apex blunt, trabeculae distinct, 20–30. |
black, obovoid, biconvex, 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.4 mm, apex often constricted proximal to tubercle, smooth at 40X. |
Tubercles | grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm. |
stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm, apex acute. |
2n | = 20. |
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Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis atropurpurea |
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Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting summer–fall (Jun–Sep). |
Habitat | Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows | Canal banks, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lake and pond margins, maritime shores, rice fields |
Elevation | 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft) | 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
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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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Discussion | Eleocharis bella and E. acicularis seem to be amply distinct; putative hybrids are unknown. The occasional plants of E. bella with evident rhizomes, which include the type, are otherwise identical to plants apparently without rhizomes. Eleocharis bella is very similar to E. cancellata. There is an Illinois collection from Peoria in 1901, from the alluvial banks of the Illinois River. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 110. | FNA vol. 23, p. 102. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima | Scirpus atropurpureus |
Name authority | (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929) | (Retzius) J. Presl & C. Presl: in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. 1: 196. (1828) |
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