Eleocharis quinqueflora |
Eleocharis bella |
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few-flower spike-rush, few-flower spikesedge, éléocharide à cinq fleurs |
beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomes 0.2–1 mm thick, scales persistent or fugaceous, 2–4(–7) mm, thinly membranous, not fibrous; resting buds often present on rhizomes or among culm bases, broadly to narrowly ovoid, 3–6(–10) × 2–5 mm; caudices absent, rarely present, soft or rarely hard, 0.5 mm thick. | Plants annual, rarely perennial, usually densely tufted; rhizomes rarely evident, 0.2–0.3 mm thick, internodes 1–5 mm, scales not evident. |
Culms | erect, not spirally twisted, not contracted near spikelet, when dry usually with several blunt to acute ridges and sulcate, subterete to slightly compressed, to 2 times wider than thick, 5–35 cm × 0.2–0.5(–1.2) mm, soft to hard; culm tufts often proximally bulbous (if bulbous then tunicated by papery-fibrous scales). |
often ascending or spreading, 4-angled or sometimes terete, sometimes sulcate, 1–7 cm × 0.2–0.3 mm, soft to firm. |
Leaves | distal leaf sheaths stramineous to brown or reddish proximally, green to stramineous or brown distally, membranous to papery, apex often reddish, subtruncate to acute. |
sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, apex acute. |
Spikelets | 3–8 × 1.5–4 mm; proximal scale with a flower, seldom empty, 2–5 mm, 1/2 or more as long as spikelet; floral scales 3–10 per spikelet, 2.5–6 × 1.5–2.5 mm. |
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. |
Flowers | perianth bristles (0–)3–6, often unequal, rudimentary to equaling tubercle, stout to slender, spinules dense to apparently absent; anthers 1.5–2.7(–3.5) mm. |
perianth bristles absent; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm. |
Achenes | stramineous to medium brown or gray-brown, equilaterally trigonous to compressed-trigonous, rarely some biconvex, obpyriform (to obovoid), 1.6–2.3 × 0.7–1.3 mm, beak variable. |
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. |
Tubercles | rarely absent, 0.3–0.4 × 0.2–0.3 mm. |
grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm. |
Eleocharis quinqueflora |
Eleocharis bella |
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Phenology | Fruiting (spring–)summer. | Fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Fens, wet meadows, seeps, springs, hot springs | Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows |
Elevation | 0–3600 m (0–11800 ft) | 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
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Discussion | The chromosome numbers for Eleocharis quinqueflora reported for North America (2n = 80) are in doubt because vouchers and other information are lacking. The often-cited n = 10 is probably erroneous. S.-O. Strandhede and R. M. T. Dahlgren (1968) gave 2n = 132 and 134 from Scandinavia. Recognition of infraspecific taxa within E. quinqueflora is premature pending a worldwide revision of subg. Zinserlingia. It has been reported from North Dakota, although I have not seen specimens. About five varieties and subspecies of E. quinqueflora have been described worldwide. Most specimens from eastern North America and some from the West can be placed in Eleocharis quinqueflora subsp. fernaldii (Svenson) Hultén, which is characterized by its small size (culms to 15 cm × 0.5 mm) and small bulbs. Specimens of E. quinqueflora from 2000–3600 m in California, which are atypical, especially in that the proximal scales of the spikelets do not subtend flowers, may deserve taxonomic recognition. Those plants are also small, with culms only to 15 cm × 0.5 mm; hard caudices are often present at the culm-tuft bases; small, narrowly ovoid bulbs are sometimes present; and perianth bristles are absent or rudimentary. Very few specimens of E. quinqueflora are intermediate with E. suksdorfiana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 114. | FNA vol. 23, p. 110. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Zinserlingia | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Scirpus quinqueflorus, E. fernaldii, E. pauciflora, E. pauciflora var. fernaldii, E. quinqueflora subsp. fernaldii | E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima |
Name authority | (Hartmann) O. Schwarz: Mitt. Thüring. Bot. Ges. 1: 89. (1949) | (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929) |
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