Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

BEAKED SPIKE-RUSH

(Eleocharis rostellata (Torr.) Torr.)

SEDGE FAMILY (Cyperaceae)

IND. STATUS: OBL

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A perennial spike-rush 40-100 cm. high (Figure 32a). Stems are leafless and stout, but conspicuously narrower than the spikelets (Figure 32b). Two stem types are present: fertile and vegetative. The vegetative stems are characteristically long and arching, and root at the tip. No other spike-rush (Eleocharis sp.) found in Minnesota and Wisconsin has this trait. The nutlet (Figure 32c) is 1.9-2.8 mm. long and three-sided to planoconvex.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: This rare spike-rush is restricted to calcareous fens and calcareous shores. It may form dense stands. Beaked spike-rush is listed as a threatened species in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); Swink and Wilhelm (1994); and Voss (1972).

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