Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis nitida |
|
---|---|---|
beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush |
neat spike-rush, quill spike-rush, quill spikesedge, slender spikerush, éléocharide brillante |
|
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 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 | often ascending or spreading, 4-angled or sometimes terete, sometimes sulcate, 1–7 cm × 0.2–0.3 mm, soft to firm. |
terete, 2–15 cm × 0.15–0.3 mm, firm to soft. |
Leaves | sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, 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, 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, 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 absent; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm. |
perianth bristles absent; stamens 3; anthers yellow, 0.3 mm; styles 3-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. |
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 | grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm. |
brown, greatly depressed, rudimentary, 0.05–15 × 0.15–0.3 mm. |
Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis nitida |
|
Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting late spring (Jun)–summer. |
Habitat | Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows | Fresh bog pools, streams, disturbed places |
Elevation | 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft) | 30–400 m (100–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
|
AK; MI; MN; NH; WI; NL; NS; ON; QC; SK |
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 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. 110. | FNA vol. 23, p. 86. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Eleocharis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima | |
Name authority | (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929) | Fernald: Rhodora 8: 129. (1906) |
Web links |
|