Eleocharis palustris (L.) R. & S.
Eleocharis macrostachya
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Eleocharis palustris (L.) R. & S.Eleocharis macrostachya
Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)Native, EurasiaCommon Spike RushPale Spike Rush |
May Photo
Plant Characteristics:
Perennial sedge with long, creeping rhizomes; culm loosely or densely tufted at
base, terete or oval in cross section, stout or slender, striated (marked with
fine parallel lines), erect, .5-1 m. tall, pale green to dark green;
leaves reduced to basal sheaths, obliquely truncated but sometimes
pointed; terminal spike .5-2.5 cm. long, subtended by 2 or 3 empty scales;
fertile scales lanceolate, brown to purple or green, with midrib and a
scarious margin; bristles 4; stamens 2 or 3; extremely variable.
Habitat:
Common and widespread in marshes, vernal pools, ditches and flooded
lands, below 8000 feet, throughout Ca., San Clemente and Catalina Ids.;
throughout temperate N. Am. April-Nov.
Name:
Greek, heleos, marsh, and charis, grace. Greek, makros,
long, and stachyeros, spike-like. (Jaeger
90,147,246).
General:
Occasional in the study area. Photographed
at 23rd Street and the Santa Ana Heights flats.
(my comments). Closely related to the bulrush, Scirpus, this spike rush or wire grass is sometimes a weed of rice
fields. (Robbins et al. 117).
E. palustris is
the same as E. macrostachya in part.
Complex, polyploid, needs study. (Hickman,
Ed. 1142). Hickman reversed the
order of the species names macrostachya
and palustris from that in Munz, Flora
So. Calif. Roberts in his 1998 A Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Orange County California
changes the order back, making E. palustris
(L.) R. & S. the primary name. (my comments).
Text Ref:
Hickman, Ed. 1142; Mason 297; Munz, Calif.
Flora 1421; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 900; Robbins
et al. 117; Roberts 43.
Photo Ref:
May 3 83 #3; May 1 84 # 22. March-April
87 # 15.
Identity: by Walt Wright.
First Found: May 1983.
Computer Ref: Plant Data 23.
Have plant specimen.
Last edit 5/6/05.
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