Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis lanceolata |
|
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beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush |
daggerleaf spikerush |
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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. | |
Culms | often ascending or spreading, 4-angled or sometimes terete, sometimes sulcate, 1–7 cm × 0.2–0.3 mm, soft to firm. |
20–35 cm × 0.3–1 mm. |
Leaves | sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, apex acute. |
apex of distal leaf sheath subacute to narrowly acute, tooth to 0.3(–1.1) mm. |
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. |
narrowly lanceoloid, 3–12 × (1–)2–2.5(–4) mm, apex acute; floral scales 25–100, 10–12 per mm of rachilla, orangebrown to stramineous, ovate, 1.5–2 × 1 mm, midribs mostly keeled, apex acute or narrowly rounded in proximal part of spikelet. |
Flowers | perianth bristles absent; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm. |
perianth bristles 6–7, brown, stout, the longest equaling or exceeding tubercle; stamens 2–3; anthers brown, 0.3 mm; 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. |
0.9–1.1 × 0.6–0.8 mm. |
Tubercles | grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm. |
deltoid, 0.25–0.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm, 1/2–2/3 as high as wide, 1/4–1/2 as high and 2/3–4/5 as wide as achene. |
2n | = 10. |
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Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis lanceolata |
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Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting summer to fall. |
Habitat | Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows | Fresh shores, stream beds, pine woods, disturbed places |
Elevation | 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft) | 0–400 m (0–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
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AR; CA; KS; LA; MO; OK; TN; TX |
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.) |
Some collections of Eleocharis lanceolata from Tennessee appear to be intermediate with E. obtusa. The California record is an introduced rice-field weed collected in 1949. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 110. | FNA vol. 23, p. 104. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Ovatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima | |
Name authority | (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929) | Fernald: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 34: 493, figs. 27–29. (1899) |
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