Flora of North America species comparison

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Eleocharis uniglumis

Eleocharis bella

creeping spike-rush, one-glumed spikesedge, onescale spikerush, slender spike-rush, éléocharide unigume

beautiful spikerush, delicate spikerush, pretty spikerush
Habit Plants perennial, mat-forming; rhizomes evident, long, 0.3–1 mm thick, soft to firm, cortex often fugaceous, longer internodes 10–25 mm, scales fugaceous, 5–6 mm, membranous, not fibrous. Plants annual, rarely perennial, usually densely tufted; rhizomes rarely evident, 0.2–0.3 mm thick, internodes 1–5 mm, scales not evident.
Culms

terete, often with some blunt ridges when dry, (5–)10–60 cm × 0.2–1.5 mm, firm, internally spongy.

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 persistent, not splitting, proximally red, distally stramineous to green, often callose, thinly papery to thickly membranous, apex often dark red-brown, obtuse to subacute, tooth absent.

sheaths stramineous, distal sheaths often splitting abaxially, slightly inflated distally, oblique, apex acute.
Spikelets

ovoid to lanceoloid, 5–10 × 2–3(–4) mm, apex acute;

proximal scale amplexicaulous, entire;

subproximal scale with flower;

floral scales often spreading in fruit, 10–20, 3–4 per mm of rachilla, brown to often red-brown, midrib regions mostly stramineous to green, broadly ovate, 3–4 × 1.8–2.5 mm, entire, apex acute to obtuse, often some carinate in distal part of spikelet.

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 0–4(–5), light brown to stramineous, stout, usually unequal, rudimentary to equaling achene;

stamens 3;

anthers dark yellow to stramineous, 1.2–2 mm;

styles 2-fid.

perianth bristles absent;

anthers 0.3–0.5 mm.
Achenes

not persistent, dark yellow or medium or dark brown, ellipsoid, obovoid, or obpyriform, biconvex, angles obscure, 1.3–1.8 × 1–1.4 mm, apex rounded, neck absent or short, smooth at 30X, or sometimes finely rugulose at 10–20X with 20 or more horizontal ridges in vertical series.

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

brown to whitish, pyramidal, much higher than wide to slightly depressed, sometimes spongy and with vertical rows of depressions, 0.4–0.8 × 0.3–0.8 mm.

grayish, mostly appressed, pyramidal, often depressed, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.25 mm.

Eleocharis uniglumis

Eleocharis bella
Phenology Fruiting summer. Fruiting spring–summer.
Habitat Mostly coastal, brackish (to fresh?) shores, marshes Bare, often drying soil of stream alluvium, lake margins, wet meadows
Elevation 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) 200–2900 m (700–9500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; DE; MA; ME; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; RI; SD; UT; VA; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; WA; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Plants treated as Eleocharis uniglumis fall within the large morphologic variation of Eurasian E. uniglumis. Two subspecies and 3 varieties were recognized for northern Europe (S.-O. Strandhede 1966), and five species that were recognized by I. D. Zinserling (1935) were placed in synonymy under E. uniglumis (S.-O. Strandhede 1966). Recognition of infraspecific taxa within North American E. uniglumis is premature. Plants commonly called E. halophila or E. uniglumis var. halophila, found mostly in Atlantic Coastal brackish habitats, have floral scales that are usually narrower and more densely placed on the rachilla than plants usually called E. uniglumis, which are found mostly in the interior; some plants are intermediate in expression of these characters. The achene and tubercle shape characters used by M. L. Fernald (1950) to distinguish E. uniglumis from E. halophila are not valid. In North America, E. uniglumis is difficult to separate from E. erythropoda and E. kamtschatica, in both of which the spikelets have only the proximal scale without a flower (empty) and the proximal scale completely amplexicaulous. Eleocharis uniglumis differs from E. erythropoda only in its broader floral scales, which are less densely placed on the rachilla; it differs from E. kamtschatica only in its smaller tubercles. It is also difficult to separate from some specimens of E. macrostachya in which the spikelets have proximal scales that are sometimes completely amplexicaulous; such plants differ from E. uniglumis only in the absence of a flower in the axil of the subproximal scale of some of the spikelets. I have not seen voucher specimens for the chromosome numbers of 2n = 27 and 28 reported by S.-O. Strandhede (1967) from Massachusetts and Nebraska, which are lower than the 2n = (44–)46(47–88) reported for Europe (S.-O. Strandhede 1965).

(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. 76. FNA vol. 23, p. 110.
Parent taxa Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Eleocharis > sect. Eleocharis > ser. Eleocharis Cyperaceae > Eleocharis > subg. Scirpidium
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. radicans, E. ravenelii, E. retroflexa, E. reverchonii, E. robbinsii, E. rostellata, E. suksdorfiana, E. tenuis, E. torticulmis, E. tortilis, E. tricostata, E. tuberculosa, E. vivipara, E. wolfii
E. acicularis, E. aestuum, E. albida, E. ambigens, E. atropurpurea, E. baldwinii, 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. 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 uniglumis, E. halophila, E. uniglumis var. halophila E. acicularis var. bella, E. acicularis var. minima
Name authority (Link) Schultes: Mant. 2: 88. (1824) (Piper) Svenson: Rhodora 31: 201. (1929)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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