Common name ²

Spikesedge, Spike Rush

Status ²

Least Concern

Plant description ²

An annual herb, potently grows in clumps. Height 7 to 30cm; flower spikelet is spherical to ovoid, 1-9 x 1-4mm, with typically 7 red-brown bristles; flowering months March to December; leaf distal leaf sheaths persistent, firm, distally tightly sheathing. Distribution cosmopolitan in tropical to warm regions. Caribbean, Oceania, North America.

Habitat ²

Gregarious in shallow water, particularly common in fallow rice fields, sometimes in brackish water by the sea and also grows in wet, sandy localities.

Interesting fact ²

Used in medicine as an analgesic drug.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Chuck Sexton, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Chuck Sexton
2. (c) karunya, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• VASCAN by Canadensys
• World Flora Online

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