Eleocharis radicans |
Eleocharis bernardina |
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creeping spikerush, radical fiber optic spikerush, root spikerush |
fewflower spikerush |
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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 |
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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 |
HI; n Mexico; West Indies; Central America (El Salvador); South America (Argentina, Chile)
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 112. | FNA vol. 23. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium | Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Zinserlingia |
Sibling taxa | ||
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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