BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Eleocharis palustris | Common Spikerush 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Common spikerush is a native, perennial, rhizomatous graminoid.  It
grows 0.66 to 4 feet (0.2-1.2 m) high with spikelets 2.45 to 7.35 inches
(6.45-18.67 cm) long.  Its culms are tufted at the base [9].  The
seedheads are brown, scaley, and conical.  Coastal specimens generally
have broader culms with purple to black scales, while inland specimens
show more rounded culms with lighter colored scales [23].  Common
spikerush is a nitrogen fixer [7].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Common spikerush regenerates primarily by rhizomes [26], colonizing
areas not conducive to seedling establishment.  Seeds are always present
in the seed bank (long-lived propagules) and can germinate in standing
water [28].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Common spikerush grows in marshes and ditches and along streambanks,
lakeshores, riverbottoms, and in wet meadows and flood areas
[9,15,23,31].  It grows in the potholed, sand dune country of
south-central Washington [15], as well as in areas dominated by
sagebrush (Artemesia spp.) [1].  It occurs at the follow elevations:

State           Elevation                      Authority 
MT         2,200-8,120 feet (671-2,477 m)       [3,12,13] 
UT         3,700-9,900 feet (1,135-3,200 m)     [30] 
OR         3,000-6,800 feet (914-2,073 m)       [19] 
CO         5,000-9,000 feet (1,525-2,750 m)     [1] 

Common spikerush grows in a variety of soils, including those derived
from alluvial parent materials, alkaline, sand loams, sedimentary peat,
organic loams, the Quaternary group, Histosols, Mollisols, and Entisols
[1,4,12,13,19].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Common spikerush is a shade-tolerant, dominant graminoid in many wetland
communities in Montana, Colorado, and Utah [4,12,13,28].  It is
subdominant to water sedge (Carex aquitilis) in wetland habitats of
Colorado [1] and seral in some wetlands of Oregon [34].  Common
spikerush forms monotypic stands with needle spikerush (Eleocharis
acicularis) in riparian sites of northwestern Montana [3].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
The following anthesis dates for common spikerush have been recorded: 

Southeast - July through October [32] 
Colorado, Wyoming, Montana - May through August [7]
North Dakota - May through June [7]

Related categories for Species: Eleocharis palustris | Common Spikerush