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creeping spikerush, radical fiber optic spikerush, root spikerush

fewflower spikerush

Habit Plants perennial, mat-forming; rhizomes 0.2–0.5 mm thick, longer internodes 5–10 mm, scales not evident. Plants perennial; rhizomes 0.5–1 mm thick, scales persistent, 5–8 mm, membranous, not fibrous; resting buds absent (non-resting buds on rhizome apex ellipsoid, 10 × 2–5 mm); caudices present, hard, 1–2 mm thick.
Culms

obscurely to ca. 10-ribbed when dry, terete, 1–12 cm × 0.4–1 mm, very soft, spongy.

markedly arched, 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 as wide as thick, 5–15 cm × 0.5–1 mm, firm to hard;

culm tufts not proximally bulbous.

Leaves

distal leaf sheaths fugaceous, colorless, translucent, apex blunt.

distal leaf sheaths brown to reddish proximally, stramineous to reddish distally, apex sometimes reddish, membranous to papery.

Spikelets

ovoid, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm, apex acute;

scales 5–15, 5–7 per mm of rachilla, colorless to stramineous, rarely slightly reddish, medially broadly greenish to colorless, faintly 3–5-veined, often ovate, membranous, fleshy;

proximal scale 2–2.5 × 0.7 mm, other scales 1.5–2 × 0.7 mm, midrib obscure to slightly keeled, apex acute to rounded.

3–6 × 2–4 mm;

proximal scale empty, 2.5–4 mm, 1/2 or more as long as spikelet;

floral scales 4–9 per spikelet, 3.5–5 × 2 mm.

Flowers

perianth bristles equaling achene;

anthers yellow to brown, 0.3–0.5 mm.

perianth bristles 4–7, very unequal, some shorter than 1/2 of achene, stout and smooth, others equaling or exceeding tubercle, very slender and densely spinulose;

anthers 1–1.5 mm.

Achenes

brownish, angles plus longitudinal ridges ca. 7, narrowly obovoid, 2 times longer than wide, 0.75–0.9 × 0.35–0.4 mm, trabeculae ca. 50, distinct.

medium brown, equilaterally trigonous to compressed trigonous or some biconvex, 1.5–2.1 × 0.9–1.2 mm, beak 0.2–0.3 × 0.3–0.4 mm.

Tubercles

brown, pyramidal, 0.15 × 0.15–0.2 mm.

0.25–0.5 × 0.15–0.2 mm.

Eleocharis radicans

Eleocharis bernardina

Phenology Fruiting spring–winter (Apr–Dec). Fruiting summer.
Habitat Stream alluvium, lake margins, meadows, seeps, bogs Wet meadows in conifer forests
Elevation 100–1400 Ariz., Calif., Fla., La., Mich., Okla., Tex., Va. 2100–2700 m (6900–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
HI; n Mexico; West Indies; Central America (El Salvador); South America (Argentina, Chile)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Although usually included in Eleocharis quinqueflora, E. bernardina is clearly more like E. suksdorfiana.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 23, p. 112. FNA vol. 23.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Zinserlingia
Sibling taxa
E. acicularis, E. aestuum, E. albida, E. ambigens, E. atropurpurea, E. baldwinii, E. bella, E. bernardina, E. bicolor, E. bifida, E. bolanderi, E. brachycarpa, E. brittonii, E. cancellata, E. cellulosa, E. coloradoensis, E. compressa, E. cylindrica, E. decumbens, E. diandra, E. elliptica, E. elongata, E. engelmannii, E. equisetoides, E. erythropoda, E. fallax, E. flavescens, E. geniculata, E. intermedia, E. interstincta, E. kamtschatica, E. lanceolata, E. macrostachya, E. mamillata, E. melanocarpa, E. microcarpa, E. minima, E. montana, E. montevidensis, E. nana, E. nigrescens, E. nitida, E. obtusa, E. obtusetrigona, E. occulta, E. ovata, E. pachycarpa, E. palustris, E. parishii, E. parvula, E. quadrangulata, E. quinqueflora, E. ravenelii, E. retroflexa, E. reverchonii, E. robbinsii, E. rostellata, E. suksdorfiana, E. tenuis, E. torticulmis, E. tortilis, E. tricostata, E. tuberculosa, E. uniglumis, E. vivipara, E. wolfii
E. acicularis, E. aestuum, E. albida, E. ambigens, E. atropurpurea, E. baldwinii, E. bella, E. bicolor, E. bifida, E. bolanderi, E. brachycarpa, E. brittonii, E. cancellata, E. cellulosa, E. coloradoensis, E. compressa, E. cylindrica, E. decumbens, E. diandra, E. elliptica, E. elongata, E. engelmannii, E. equisetoides, E. erythropoda, E. fallax, E. flavescens, E. geniculata, E. intermedia, E. interstincta, E. kamtschatica, E. lanceolata, E. macrostachya, E. mamillata, E. melanocarpa, E. microcarpa, E. minima, E. montana, E. montevidensis, E. nana, E. nigrescens, E. nitida, E. obtusa, E. obtusetrigona, E. occulta, E. ovata, E. pachycarpa, E. palustris, E. parishii, E. parvula, E. quadrangulata, E. quinqueflora, E. radicans, E. ravenelii, E. retroflexa, E. reverchonii, E. robbinsii, E. rostellata, E. suksdorfiana, E. tenuis, E. torticulmis, E. tortilis, E. tricostata, E. tuberculosa, E. uniglumis, E. vivipara, E. wolfii
Synonyms Scirpus radicans, E. acicularis var. radicans, E. lindheimeri Scirpus bernardinus, E. pauciflora var. bernardina, E. quinqueflora var. bernardina
Name authority (Poiret) Kunth: Enum. Pl. 2: 142. (1837) (Munz & I. M. Johnston) Munz: Man. S. Calif. Bot., 68, 597. (1935)
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