Small spike-rush, éléocharide naine

Scirpus parvulus Roemer & Schultes in J. J. Roemer et al., Syst. Veg. 2: 124. 1817; Eleocharis pygmaea Torrey; S. nanus Sprengel

Tubers terminating rhizomes usually markedly J- or horseshoe-shaped, body (apart from apical bud) oblong, 2–2.5(–5) × 0.5–1 mm; tubers among culm bases straight, narrowly fusiform, 4–5 mm. Spikelets 2–4 × 1–2 mm, sometimes absent in deeper water; proximal scale 1/2 or more of spikelet length; floral scales 6–10 per spikelet, 1.4–2.7 mm, commonly entirely stramineous, apex rounded to subacute. Flowers: perianth bristles 6, stramineous, fairly stout to slender, usually equaling achene to slightly exceeding tubercle, sometimes unequal and some 1/2 of achene, very rarely rudimentary, minutely retrorsely spinulose; anthers 0.7–1.2 mm. Achenes stramineous, sometimes pale brown, obovoid to obpyriform, thickly trigonous, angles distinct, faces concave to plane, rarely convex, 0.9–1.2 × 0.55–0.75 mm, apex tapered, smooth or faintly rough at 30X. Tubercles 0.1–0.2 × 0.15 mm. 2n = 10 (Europe).

Fruiting summer–fall (north) or late winter–fall (far south). Brackish or saline, mostly coastal tidal marshes, shores, mud flats, swamps, ponds, ditches; 0–600 m; B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Que.; Ala., Ark., Calif., Conn., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., S.C., Va., Wash.; Mexico; Central America (Nicaragua); Eurasia.

Plants without well-developed bristles are otherwise typical Eleocharis parvula. S.-O. Strandhede and R. M. T. Dahlgren (1968) provided a detailed description from Scandinavia; the mostly curved tubers of North American plants are differently shaped than the ovoid, mostly nearly straight tubers illustrated by them. Eleocharis parvula is very uncommon inland. Plants lacking spikelets and having rather broad culms with evident aerenchyma (E. parvula forma spongiosa Fassett) that are submerged in tidal zones closely resemble small plants of Sagittaria graminea. Eleocharis parvula has also been reported from North Dakota, South America, and Africa; I have not seen specimens. Plants without achenes or tubers cannot be reliably identified to species. Literature reports from Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela may be based on specimens of E. coloradoensis.