Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis tortilis |
|
---|---|---|
beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush |
twisted spikerush |
|
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, forming dense clumps, not stoloniferous, rhizomatous. |
Rhizomes | usually present, caudexlike, ascending, 1 mm thick, hidden by crowded culms; internodes and 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. |
sometimes spirally twisted, usually minutely red-spotted at 30X, acutely triangular or sometimes elliptic, 15–70 cm × 0.3–0.5(–1) mm, soft (to firm), often minutely granular at 10X. |
Leaves | sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent, stramineous to green, often minutely red-spotted, membranous to papery, apex subacute to narrowly acute, often with toothlike callus. |
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. |
basal spikelets absent; never proliferous, ovoid to lanceoloid or ellipsoid, terete, 4–12 × 2–4 mm, apex acute; proximal scale empty, deciduous, clasping 1/2 of culm, similar to floral scales; subproximal scale often empty; floral scales spiraled, 10–25, 5–6 per mm of rachilla, pale orange-brown, midrib regions broadly pale green to colorless, broadly ovate, 2–2.5(–3.5) × 1.5–2 mm, central area and often flanks papery to cartilaginous or sometimes membranous, midrib evident, apex subacute (to rounded). |
Flowers | perianth bristles absent; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm. |
perianth bristles 4–6, bright brown, stout, equaling to slightly exceeding tubercle; spinules dense, retrorse, sharply acute; stamens 3; anthers 0.5–0.9 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. |
medium brown or yellowish or greenish, obpyriform, obtusely (often obscurely) compressed trigonous, angles evident, 1.2–1.7(–2.4) × 0.9–1.2(–2.2) mm, apex constricted proximal to tubercle, coarsely cancellate at 10X, each face with 8–10 longitudinal rows of distinctly depressed, enlarged cells. |
Tubercles | grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm. |
brown to greenish (or bone-white), pyramidal, trigonous or cross section plano-convex, 0.3–0.7(–1) × 0.3–0.6(–0.9) mm, distinctly shorter or narrower than achene, apex acute, often acuminate. |
Eleocharis bella |
Eleocharis tortilis |
|
Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting spring (in south)–fall. |
Habitat | Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows | Wet soil, freshwater, acidic places, seeps, bogs, ditches |
Elevation | 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft) | 10–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
|
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; SC; TN; TX; VA
|
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 tortilis differs consistently from E. tuberculosa only in tubercle size. Most specimens of E. tortilis have culms that are sharply trigonous and no more than 0.5 mm wide. However, about two-thirds of the specimens of E. tortilis from Texas resemble E. tuberculosa in having culms that are elliptic or subelliptic in cross section and that sometimes reach 1 mm wide. Those elliptic-culmed plants may deserve taxonomic recognition. I have not seen voucher specimens for reports in the literature (H. K. Svenson 1937; M. L. Brown and R. G. Brown 1984) for Alabama (Mobile, 1800s), Delaware (1908), Maryland (1863–1878), and New York (Long Island, 1903). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 110. | FNA vol. 23, p. 92. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Tenuissimae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima | Scirpus tortilis |
Name authority | (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929) | (Link) Schultes: Mant. 2: 92. (1824) |
Web links |
|