Common Spike-sedge

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Common Spike-sedge - Colleen Miller

Eleocharis acuta


Leafless plant with erect dark-green hollow stems to 90 cm in height, spreading to more than 2 m and forming dense stands. Flowers are dark brown spikelets 3 cm long and 3-7 mm wide at the tips of the stems.


Details
Flora Type
Sedges, rushes
Other Common Names
Small Spike-sedge
Distinctive Features

Three-sided flowerstems. Emergent narrow-leaf.

Biology

Perennial. Found in or alongside perennial wetlands and slow-moving water including channels.

Native Status
Native
Flowering Time

Sep-Apr

Taxonomy
Phylum
Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)
Class
Magnoliopsida (Flowering Plants)
Order
Poales
Family
Cyperaceae
Genus
Eleocharis
Species
acuta

The black fleshy berry and the fleshy tuberous roots of some Eleocharis species were used as a food source by Aboriginal people, as well as the stems for weaving and basket-making. Used by waterbirds as nesting material and the fruit as a food source.


Interesting Facts
Native Status
Native