Eleocharis cellulosa |
Eleocharis ovata |
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Gulf Coast spikerush, Gulfcoast spikesedge |
ovate spike-rush, ovoid spike-rush, ovoid spikesedge, éléocharide ovale |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomes 1–4 mm thick, soft to hard, longer internodes 3–7.5 cm, scales 5 mm, tubers absent. | |
Culms | terete or obtusely trigonous, 30–80 cm × 1–5 mm, soft to hard, not septate-nodulose, internally spongy, transverse septa incomplete; plants never forming filiform, flaccid culms. |
2–35 cm × 0.3–1 mm. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths persistent, membranous, apex acute to acuminate, often prolonged into a slender awn to 4 mm. |
apex of distal leaf sheath obtuse to acute, tooth to 0.2 mm. |
Spikelets | not proliferous, 14–54 × 3–5.6 mm; rachilla joints without winglike remnants of floral scales; proximal scale empty, amplexicaulous, 2.5–4.9 mm; floral scales 40–180, 2–3 per mm of rachilla, stramineous to pale brown, flanks sometimes minutely dotted reddish, usually with pale to dark brown, reddish, or purplish submarginal band, obovate to suborbicular, widest in middle, 3.4–4.5(–6) × 3–4.8 mm, cartilaginous, membranous toward margins, margins broadly translucent, membranous, apex rounded. |
ovoid, 2–8 × 2–4 mm, apex acute (to blunt); floral scales 25–100+, ca. 10 per mm of rachilla, orange-brown, rarely stramineous, ovate, 1.5–2 × 1 mm, midribs often keeled in distal part of spikelet, apex rounded to subacute. |
Flowers | perianth bristles 6–7, medium brown to pale brown or reddish, slender, proximally slightly flattened, subequal to unequal, mostly exceeding achene, 2–3.4 mm, smooth or sometimes finely retrorsely spinulose; anthers reddish brown, 1.7–2.5 mm; styles 3-fid. |
perianth bristles present, rarely absent, (5–)6–7, brown, fairly slender, exceeding tubercle; stamens 2(–3); anthers brown, 0.3 mm; styles 2-fid or some 3-fid. |
Achenes | brown, biconvex, obpyriform, 2.2–2.8 × 1.3–1.9 mm, markedly sculptured at 10–15X, each face with (17–)20–24 rows of isodiametric to slightly transversely elongated cells, apex narrowed to a stout, often pale, spongy region 0.8–1.1 mm wide at base, 1/2–3/4 of achene width. |
0.75–1 × 0.6–0.85 mm. |
Tubercles | dark brown, lamelliform to pyramidal, 0.1–0.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm. |
deltoid, 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.5 mm, 3/5 of to as high as wide, 1/3–2/3 as high and 1/2–3/4 as wide as achene. |
2n | = 10. |
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Eleocharis cellulosa |
Eleocharis ovata |
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Phenology | Fruiting late spring–winter. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Brackish to saline marshes, shores, ditches, mostly coastal, often abundant or dominant | Fresh, often drying shores, lake and stream beds, bogs, tidal estuaries, disturbed places |
Elevation | 0 (Florida)–600 (Arkansas, Texas) m (0 (Florida)–2000 (Arkansas, Texas) ft) | 10–700 m (East), 1500–2000 m (Arizona) (0–2300 ft (East), 4900–6600 ft (Arizona)) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Nicaragua)
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AZ; CT; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; AB; BC; NB; NL; NS; ON; PE; QC; Eurasia
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Discussion | Although Eleocharis ovata has often been confused with E. obtusa, B. M. H. Larson and P. M. Catling (1996) showed that these species may be distinguished by non-overlapping widths of the tubercles, at least in Canada. The records of E. ovata in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island are based on B. M. H. Larson and P. M. Catling (1996) and the records in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington are based on D. M. Hines (1975). Eleocharis ovata probably also occurs in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 118. | FNA vol. 23, p. 103. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Limnochloa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Ovatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus ovatus, E. obtusa var. ovata, E. ovata var. heuseri | |
Name authority | Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 298. (1836) | (Roth) Roemer & Schultes: in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 2: 152. (1817) |
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