Eriocaulon compressum |
Eriocaulon cinereum |
|
---|---|---|
flattened pipewort |
ashy pipewort |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 20–70 cm. | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 15–30 cm. |
Leaves | linear-attenuate, 5–30 cm, apex subulate. |
linear-attenuate, to 10 cm, apex subulate-filiform. |
Inflorescences | scape sheaths mostly longer than principal leaves, loose; scapes linear, 1–3 mm wide, multiribbed (ribs lacunar); heads chalk white except for dark gray or near black exserted tips of receptacular bracts, anthers, hemispheric to subglobose, 10–20 mm wide, soft, much flattened when pressed; receptacle pilose; involucral bracts frequently squarrose, later obscured by mature bracteoles and flowers, gray, broadly ovate to oblong or elliptic, 2–3 mm, margins entire, apex rounded or obtuse, glabrous; inner bracts, receptacular bracteoles dark gray, spatulate-linear to oblong, 2–3 mm, margins entire, apex acute with white, club-shaped hairs. |
scape sheaths shorter than principal leaves, loose; scapes filiform, 0.5 mm wide, 6–8-ribbed; mature head silvery-gray, ovoid to nearly globose, 4–5 mm wide, soft; receptacle sparsely pilose, hairs translucent; involucral bracts spreading-ascending, not obscured by bracteoles and flowers of mature heads, pale, ovate to oblong, oblanceolate or broadly obovate, grading narrower inward, 2 mm, margins often lacerate or erose, apex acute, glabrous; receptacular bracts pale except for gray midzone, linear-oblong, 2 mm, margins erose or entire, apex acute, glabrous. |
Staminate flowers | sepals 2, pale or with dark apex, linear or linear-spatulate, 2–4 mm, apex acute to blunt with mealy white, club-shaped hairs; androphore broadly club-shaped; petals 2, pale, oblong, conspicuously unequal, larger lobe apically fringed with pale, club-shaped hairs, smaller lobe glabrous or with a few hairs at apex; stamens 3–4(–6); anthers black. |
sepals 3, dark, either deeply and narrowly lobed or broadly spatulate, 3-dentate, 1.5 mm, distally with scattered white, linear, short hairs; androphore flaring; petals 3, oblong, apex with white, tapering hairs; stamens 6; anthers yellow. |
Pistillate flowers | sepals 2, dark at apex, oblong-spatulate, 2.5–3 mm, abaxially with mealy white, club-shaped hairs, adaxially with translucent hairs; petals 2, pale, oblong-spatulate, apex acute, abaxially with mealy white, club-shaped hairs, adaxially with translucent hairs; pistil 2-carpellate. |
sepals 3, 2 linear-elliptic, 1 broadly elliptic-oblanceolate, concave, 1.5 mm, apex acute, sometimes with few translucent hairs; gynophore 1 mm with 3 spreading, peglike, minute appendages; pistil 3-carpellate. |
Seeds | dark lustrous brown, broadly ovoid to near round but asymmetric, 0.5 mm, mostly minutely spiny-papillate. |
pale brown, ovoid or broadly ellipsoid, 4.5 mm, finely reticulate, alveolae horizontally rectangular. |
Eriocaulon compressum |
Eriocaulon cinereum |
|
Phenology | Flowering late winter–spring. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sands and peats of shallow pineland ponds, savanna, seeps, ditches, or low flatwoods | Muck of rice fields |
Elevation | 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; SC; TX
|
CA; LA; Europe (Italy); SE; e Asia; Australia [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Eriocaulon compressum is polymorphic in habit. Male flowers vary considerably in length and degree of connation, and female flowers are often sterile. Of the southeastern coastal plain species this and the similar, but proportionately smaller, E. lineare, are the most aquatic, the former most common around clay-based ponds, the latter around karst ponds. Unlike the more northern E. aquaticum, these two species seldom frequent the shallows of flowing streams. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Eriocaulaceae > Eriocaulon | Eriocaulaceae > Eriocaulon |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. decangulare, E. gnaphalodes, E. cephalotes, Sphaerochloa compressa | E. sieboldianum |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 3: 276. (1789) | R. Brown: Prodr. 254. (1810) |
Web links |