Eleocharis quinqueflora |
Eleocharis wolfii |
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few-flower spike-rush, few-flower spikesedge, éléocharide à cinq fleurs |
Wolf's spike-rush |
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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 perennial, often forming large mats; rhizomes 0.25–0.6 mm thick, internodes 1–4 cm, scales 2 mm. |
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). |
sometimes decumbent, in same plant sides variably smooth or with 1 to few acute ridges (often nearly smooth or with 1 ridge on 1 side and several ridges on the other), greatly compressed, usually inrolled when dry, rectangular in cross section, 10–40 cm × 0.3–1.5 mm, 0.2–0.5 mm thick, firm, margins often sharply acute, margins and often 1 or more ridges minutely serrulate at 20–30X. |
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. |
distal leaf sheaths persistent, red proximally, colorless or stramineous or whitish distally, slightly inflated, thickly membranous, 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 or lanceoloid, 3–9 × 1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute; floral scales 15–30, 6 per mm of rachilla, orange-brown or often stramineous or colorless, midrib region stramineous or greenish, ovate-lanceolate, (2.2–)2.7–3.2 × 1.5 mm, midrib prominent, apex acute. |
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 1.1–1.75 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. |
compressed-trigonous, with angles plus longitudinal ridges ca. 9–13, prominent, obovoid, mostly 2 times longer than wide, 0.7–0.9(–1.1) × (0.4–)0.5 mm, trabeculae 30–60, rather obscure and crowded. |
Tubercles | rarely absent, 0.3–0.4 × 0.2–0.3 mm. |
brownish, pyramidal, usually depressed, 0.1–0.15 × 0.2–0.25 mm. |
Eleocharis quinqueflora |
Eleocharis wolfii |
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Phenology | Fruiting (spring–)summer. | Fruiting late spring–early summer (May–Jun). |
Habitat | Fens, wet meadows, seeps, springs, hot springs | Ephemeral pools in open grasslands, oak woodlands on river terraces, limestone barrens |
Elevation | 0–3600 m (0–11800 ft) | 10–500 m (0–1600 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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AL; AR; CO; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MN; MO; MS; ND; NY; OH; OK; TN; TX; WI
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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 wolfii is presumably extirpated from Colorado, Kansas, New York (Long Island), and Ohio. It was recently rediscovered in Wisconsin. Some literature reports (e.g. from the Great Plains) are based on misidentified specimens. I have not seen specimens to verify literature reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska. (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 | Scirpus wolfii |
Name authority | (Hartmann) O. Schwarz: Mitt. Thüring. Bot. Ges. 1: 89. (1949) | (A. Gray) A. Gray ex Britton: in H. N. Patterson, Cat. Pl. Illinois, 46. (1876) |
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