Eleocharis melanocarpa |
Eleocharis nitida |
|
---|---|---|
black-fruit spike-rush, black-fruit spikesedge |
neat spike-rush, quill spike-rush, quill spikesedge, slender spikerush, éléocharide brillante |
|
Habit | 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 | to 2 times wider than thick, 35–60(–70) cm × 0.5–1.3 mm, hard, usually with to 10 blunt ribs, at 20X often finely ridged and minutely granular. |
terete, 2–15 cm × 0.15–0.3 mm, firm to soft. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths brown to reddish. |
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 | 3–12 × 3–4 mm; proximal scale amplexicaulous, 3.5–4 mm, midrib region very broad and fleshy, apex entire; subproximal scale with a flower; floral scales 30–40, 8–10 per mm of rachilla, orange-brown to stramineous, midrib region stramineous, broadly ovate, papery or sometimes membranous, 3–4 × 2 mm, apex entire, rounded. |
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 present, sometimes rudimentary, brown, length variable, obscurely retrorsely spinulose; anthers brown, 1.7–2.2 mm. |
perianth bristles absent; stamens 3; anthers yellow, 0.3 mm; styles 3-fid. |
Achenes | subdeltoid in outline, sometimes broadly obpyriform, equilaterally trigonous, angles prominent, 0.9–1.2 × 0.7–1.1 mm, apex truncate. |
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 | sessile, depressed-pyramidal, often apiculate, as wide as achene, 0.3–0.5 × 0.7–1.1 mm. |
brown, greatly depressed, rudimentary, 0.05–15 × 0.15–0.3 mm. |
Eleocharis melanocarpa |
Eleocharis nitida |
|
Phenology | Fruiting summer. | Fruiting late spring (Jun)–summer. |
Habitat | Fresh, oligotrophic, acid, sandy or peaty, often drying shores, ponds, ditches | Fresh bog pools, streams, disturbed places |
Elevation | 10–300 m (0–1000 ft) | 30–400 m (100–1300 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; IN; MA; MI; NC; NY; RI; SC; TX; VA
|
AK; MI; MN; NH; WI; NL; NS; ON; QC; SK |
Discussion | Eleocharis melanocarpa is reported from Rhode Island; I have not seen a voucher specimen. (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. 89. | FNA vol. 23, p. 86. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Melanocarpae | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Eleocharis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 3: 311. (1836) | Fernald: Rhodora 8: 129. (1906) |
Web links |