Eleocharis geniculata |
Eleocharis cellulosa |
|
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bent spike-rush, Canada spikesedge, capitate spike-rush |
Gulf Coast spikerush, Gulfcoast spikesedge |
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Habit | Plants tufted, without creeping rhizomes. | Plants perennial; rhizomes 1–4 mm thick, soft to hard, longer internodes 3–7.5 cm, scales 5 mm, tubers absent. |
Culms | to 45 cm × 0.2–1 mm. |
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. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths persistent, firm, distally tightly sheathing, apex acute. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent, membranous, apex acute to acuminate, often prolonged into a slender awn to 4 mm. |
Spikelets | orbicular to ovoid, 1–9 × 1–4 mm, apex rounded to acute; proximal scale without flower, not amplexicaulous; floral scales to 125, 11–14 per mm of rachilla, tightly appressed, dark red-brown to stramineous, ovate to elliptic, 0.8–3 × 0.6–2(–2.3) mm, membranous to cartilaginous, apex rounded to acute. |
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. |
Flowers | perianth bristles (0–)4–8, typically 7, red-brown, rarely whitish, vestigial to much exceeding tubercle, typically equaling achene, spinules few to dense; styles 2-fid. |
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. |
Achenes | brown ripening to black, biconvex, orbicular to obpyriform, 0.5–1.1 × 0.3–0.7 mm, apex rarely constricted proximal to tubercle, very finely reticulate at 40X. |
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. |
Tubercles | stramineous to whitish, umbonate to subconic, 0.2–0.4 × 0.2–0.5 mm, apex rounded to acute. |
dark brown, lamelliform to pyramidal, 0.1–0.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm. |
2n | = 10. |
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Eleocharis geniculata |
Eleocharis cellulosa |
|
Phenology | Fruiting spring–winter (Mar–Dec). | Fruiting late spring–winter. |
Habitat | Brackish creeks, canal banks, dune depressions, hammocks, irrigation ditches, lakeshores, lagoons, mangrove thickets, maritime mud flats, ditches, salt marshes | Brackish to saline marshes, shores, ditches, mostly coastal, often abundant or dominant |
Elevation | 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft) | 0 (Florida)–600 (Arkansas, Texas) m (0 (Florida)–2000 (Arkansas, Texas) ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AZ; CA; FL; GA; IL; IN; LA; MI; MS; NE; NM; NV; OH; OK; PA; TX; ON; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Bermuda; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands
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AL; AR; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Nicaragua)
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Discussion | The name Eleocharis caribaea (Rottbøll) S. F. Blake is considered by most contemporary authorities to be misapplied (K. L. Wilson 1990). Eleocharis geniculata has been reported from South Carolina; I have not seen a voucher. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 101. | FNA vol. 23, p. 118. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleogenus > ser. Maculosae | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Limnochloa |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus geniculatus, E. capitata, E. caribaea, E. dispar | |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Roemer & Schultes: in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 2: 150. (1817) | Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 298. (1836) |
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