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Needle Spikerush (Eleocharis acicularis)

• Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
• Flowering: June-October.
• Field Marks: This species is readily distinguished from other spikerushes by its thread-like stems and tiny, sharply pointed spikelets.
• Habitat: Around ponds and lakes, edge of marshes.
• Habit: Perennial herb with slender stolons.
• Stems: Erect or usually matted, thread-like, smooth, up to 6 inches long.
• Leaves: 0.
• Flowers: Borne in single spikelets at the tip of each stem; the spikelets lanceoloid, sharply pointed at the tip, up to 1/4 inch long.
• Scales: Oblong, rounded or slightly pointed at the tip, up to 1/10 inch long.
• Sepals: 0.
• Petals: 0.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Style 3-cleft; ovary superior.
• Fruits: Achenes obovoid, yellowish, shiny, with a network pattern on the surface, up to 1/16 inch long, with a cone-shaped tubercle on the top.