Eleocharis rostellata
Encyclopedia
Eleocharis rostellata is a species of spikesedge
known by the common name beaked spikerush. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread from Canada to the West Indies to Chile.
It occurs in many types of wetland
habitat, especially saline and alkaline water bodies such as hot spring
s, fen
s, and salt marsh
es.
perennial herb growing up to 1.2 meters tall with spongy, compressible stems. The stem bends and droops and if the tip touches moist soil it may root there and grow more stems. The plant also reproduces by seed and vegetatively
by sprouting from bits of rhizome. The inflorescence
is a single spikelet up to 2 centimeters long made up of many tiny flowers covered in light brown, sometimes purple-spotted bract
s.
Eleocharis
Eleocharis is a genus of 250 or more species of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. They are known commonly as spikerushes, although spikesedges is a more technically appropriate name and most scientists who study them in earnest refer to them as such...
known by the common name beaked spikerush. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread from Canada to the West Indies to Chile.
It occurs in many types of wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
habitat, especially saline and alkaline water bodies such as hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
s, fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
s, and salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es.
Description
Eleocharis rostellata is a rhizomatousRhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
perennial herb growing up to 1.2 meters tall with spongy, compressible stems. The stem bends and droops and if the tip touches moist soil it may root there and grow more stems. The plant also reproduces by seed and vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...
by sprouting from bits of rhizome. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a single spikelet up to 2 centimeters long made up of many tiny flowers covered in light brown, sometimes purple-spotted bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s.