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Monocots
Eleocharis
EOL Text
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:491
Specimens with Sequences:540
Specimens with Barcodes:223
Species:171
Species With Barcodes:167
Public Records:335
Public Species:158
Public BINs:0
Eleocharis is a virtually cosmopolitan genus of 250 or more species of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae.[2] The name is derived from the Greek words ἕλειος (heleios), meaning "marsh dweller," and χάρις (charis), meaning "grace."[3] Members of the genus 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. The genus has a geographically cosmopolitan distribution, with centers of diversity in the Amazon Rainforest and adjacent eastern slopes of the South American Andes, northern Australia, eastern North America, California, Southern Africa, and subtropical Asia. The vast majority of Eleocharis species grow in aquatic or mesic habitats from sea level to higher than 5,000 meters in elevation (in the tropical Andes).[4]
The genus itself is relatively easy to recognize; all Eleocharis species have photosynthetic stems but no green leaves (the leaves have been reduced to sheaths surrounding the base of the stems). Many species are robust, rhizomatously-spreading plants of lowland tropical wetlands, while many others are small caespitose annual or perennial herbs growing near streams, and still others are intermediate. There are also a number of species that are obligate aquatic species, which usually have submerged, branching stems and often exhibit interesting photosynthetic adaptations, such as the ability to switch between C3 and C4 carbon fixation in response to different environmental stimuli. In all Eleocharis species, the flowers are borne on unbranched terminal spikelets at the apices of stems.[5][6][7][8]
In spite of the diversity of the genus itself, taxonomic characters useful for delimiting species within it are few, and many species are very difficult to tell apart. Many currently recognized species with very wide geographic ranges are highly polymorphic. Some of these species probably contain multiple independently evolving lineages. Because of their difficult nature, many botanists avoid collecting these plants and so many species are under-represented in the botanical record.
One of the best known species is the Chinese water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis. These plants bear tubers on their rhizomes which may be peeled and eaten raw or boiled. In Australia, magpie geese rely almost exclusively on these tubers for sustenance for a significant portion of the year.
Selected species[edit]
- Eleocharis acicularis (L.) Roem. & Schult. – needle spikerush; dwarf hairgrass
- Eleocharis acutangula (Roxb.) Schult.
- Eleocharis afflata Steud.
- Eleocharis atropurpurea (Retz.) J.Presl & C.Presl – purple spikerush
- Eleocharis baldwinii (Torr.) Chapm.
- Eleocharis bella (Piper) Svenson – beautiful spikerush
- Eleocharis bifida S.G. Smith glade spikerush
- Eleocharis bolanderi A.Gray – Bolander's spikerush
- Eleocharis brittonii Svenson ex Small
- Eleocharis cellulosa Torr. – coastal spikerush, Gulf Coast spikerush
- Eleocharis compressa Sull. – flatstem spikerush
- Eleocharis congesta D.Don
- Eleocharis dulcis (Burm.f.) Trin. ex Hensch. – Chinese water chestnut
- Eleocharis elegans (Kunth) Roem. & Schult.
- Eleocharis equisetoides (Elliott) Torr.
- Eleocharis filiculmis Kunth
- Eleocharis geniculata (L.) Roem. & Schult. – Canada spikesedge
- Eleocharis kuroguwai Ohwi
- Eleocharis macrostachya Britton – pale spikerush
- Eleocharis montana (Kunth) Roem. & Schult.
- Eleocharis montevidensis Kunth – sand spikerush
- Eleocharis mutata (L.) Roem. & Schult. – scallion grass
- Eleocharis nodulosa Schult.
- Eleocharis obtusa (Willd.) Schult. – blunt spikerush
- Eleocharis pachycarpa Desv. – black sand spikerush
- Eleocharis pachystyla (C.Wright) C.B.Clarke – false junco
- Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult. – common spikerush
- Eleocharis parishii Britton – Parish's spikerush
- Eleocharis parvula (Roem. & Schult.) Link ex Bluff et al. – dwarf spikerush, hairgrass
- Eleocharis pellucida J.Presl & C.Presl
- Eleocharis quadrangulata (Michx.) Roem. – squarestem spikerush
- Eleocharis quinqueflora (Hartmann) O.Schwarz – fewflower spikerush
- Eleocharis radicans (A.Dietr.) Kunth – rooted spikerush
- Eleocharis rostellata (Torr.) Torr. – beaked spikerush
- Eleocharis sellowiana Kunth
- Eleocharis tenuis (Willd.) Schult. – slender spikerush
- Eleocharis torticulmis S.G.Sm. – twist-stem spikerush
- Eleocharis tortilis (Link) Schult. – twisted spikerush
- Eleocharis tuberculosa (Michx.) Roem. & Schult.
- Eleocharis uniglumis (Link) (Link) Schult., 1824
- Eleocharis vivipara Link – umbrella hairgrass[9][10]
References[edit]
- ^ "Genus: Eleocharis R. Br.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2010-03-03. Retrieved 2013-05-03.
- ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ Smith, S. Galen; Jeremy J. Bruhl, M. Socorro González-Elizondo & Francis J. Menapace. "ELEOCHARIS R. Brown, Prodr. 224. 1810.". Flora of North America. eFloras.org. Retrieved 2013-05-03. Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
- ^ Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- ^ Flora of North America, Vol. 23 Page 4, 6, 7, 29, 60, Eleocharis R. Brown, Prodr. 224. 1810.
- ^ Flora of China, Vol. 23 Page 188, 荸荠属 bi qi shu, Eleocharis R. Brown, Prodr. 224. 1810.
- ^ Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Eleocharis includes photos plus distribution maps for Europe and sometimes for North America
- ^ Biota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution maps for US and Canadian species
- ^ "Eleocharis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2013-05-03.
- ^ "GRIN Species Records of Eleocharis". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2013-05-03.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eleocharis&oldid=640377184 |
Tex.; e Mexico; Central America (Nicaragua); South America.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
Plants perennial; rhizomes 3–4 mm thick, soft to hard, longer internodes 3–8 cm, scales more than 1 cm, tubers absent. Culms obscurely 3–5-angled to terete, 40–110 cm × (2–)3.6–7.5 mm, soft, not septate-nodulose, internally spongy, transverse septa incomplete; plants never forming filiform, flaccid culms. Leaves: distal leaf sheaths persistent, membranous, apex acute to long-acuminate, sometimes prolonged into a slender bladelike portion to 6 cm. Spikelets not proliferous, 12–43 × 3.5–6 mm; rachilla joints bearing obscure winglike remnants of floral scales; proximal scale without a flower, amplexicaulous, 3.6–7.5 mm; floral scales 30–125, 1–3 per mm of rachilla, greenish to pale brown, often with pale to dark brown submarginal band or a subapical darker spot, ovate to oblong, 4.3–5.8 × 2.5–3.3 mm, cartilaginous, often membranous toward margins, margins broadly translucent, membranous, apex rounded to acute. Flowers: perianth bristles 6–7, stramineous, margins and spinules reddish to pale brown, stout, flattened, subequal, exceeding achene, 2.5–3.2 mm, coarsely retrorsely spinulose; anthers reddish brown, 1.5–1.9 mm; styles 3-fid or sometimes 2-fid. Achenes pale brown, biconvex, obpyriform, 1.7–2.3 × 1.2–1.5 mm, clearly sculptured at 10–15X, each face with 10–15 rows of transversely elongated cells, often isodiametric at achene base, apex usually constricted to neck 0.5–0.6 mm wide. Tubercles stramineous, lamelliform to high-pyramidal, 0.8–1.1 × 0.7–0.9 mm.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
Limnochloa obtusetrigona Lindley & Nees in C. F. P. von Martius et al., Fl. Bras. 2(1): 100. 1842; E. fistulosa (Poiret) Link var. obtusetrigona (Lindley & Nees) Barros; E. mutata (Linnaeus) Roemer & Schultes var. obtusetrigona (Lindley & Nees) C. B. Clarke
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
Fresh, permanent water in ditches; 0–20m.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
Fruiting spring–fall.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
In North America Eleocharis obtusetrigona is known from only five collections, two of them originally identified as E. fistulosa (Poiret) Link [= E. acutangula (Roxburgh) Schultes], which is common in Mexico and South America. The original description of E. obtusetrigona is poor and does not clearly distinguish E. obtusangula from E. acutangula. H. K. Svenson (1939) included E. obtusetrigona in E. acutangula, which can be distinguished by its acutely trigonous culms as well as its smaller floral scales and achenes. The tubercles are often spongy as in E. quadrangulata.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242357774 |
Annual or perennial, glabrous herbs. Stolons often present in perennials. Culms ranging from 1-2 cm to 150 cm, green, terete, angular or triangular, hollow or filled with pith, smooth or ridged, rarely with transverse septa (E. dulcis). Sheaths pale, tubular, truncate above or ending in a short lobe. Leaves 0. Inflorescence a single terminal spikelet. Lowest 1-2 glumes similar to or different from upper. Glumes spirally arranged, usually numerous; margin often transparent. Perianth segments 3-9 glabrous or barbellate bristles or 0. Stamens 1-3. Nutlet with the style base persistent as an appendage (the style base excluded in all nutlet measurements).
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Rights holder/Author | Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings, Flora of Zimbabwe |
Source | http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=281 |