Sand Spike Rush

Eleocharis palmeri Svenson, Rhodora 34 : 223. 1932
Culms rather soft, 1.5-2 dm. high, erect from a ligneous rhizome; sheaths truncate at the apex, mucronate ; spikelets cylindric-ovoid, obtuse, 3-8 mm. long ; scales ovate-oblong, obtuse, pale brown with greenish midrib, hyaline at the margin and frequently emarginate; style trifid; stamens 3; achene 1-1.3 mm. long, shining brown, pyriform, obtusely trigonous, nearly smooth under magnification ; style-base pyramidal, acute, one-fourth as long as the achene ; bristles white, equaling the achene. Type locality : West margins of the Pecos River, in deep limestone canyon, near the Rio Grande, Valverde County, Texas (E. J. Palmer 33464). Distribution : Known only from the type collection.

Eleocharis montevidensis Kunth, Enum, PI. 2: 144. 1837
Eleocharis arenicola Torr. ; Engelm. & Gray, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. 5 : 237. 1845. (Texas.)
Limnochloa montevidensis Nees in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2}: 99. 1842.
Eleocharis montana sensu Britton, Jour. N. Y. Micr. Soc. 5: 109. 1889, and of many later
authors. Not E. montana (H.B.K.) R. & S. Trichophyllum arenicolum House, Am. Midi. Nat. 6 : 204. 1920. Heleocharis montana subsp. H. montevidensis Osten, Anal. Mus. Hist. Nat. Montevideo II. 3 :
183. 1931.
Culms erect from extensively creeping reddish rootstocks, 0.5-4.5 dm. high, rigid, striate ; upper sheath deep brown at the base, usually becoming stramineous toward the truncate apex; spikelets ovoid to oblong, blunt, 4-13 mm. long, many-flowered; scales ovate, obtuse, brownish or yellowish, with a hyaline margin ; style trifid ; achene 1 mm. long, obovoid, triangular, with blunt angles, golden-yellow to brown, with a minutely punctulate, glossy surface ; style-base conic, short, sessile at the apex of the achene, or sometimes with a slight constriction; bristles 4-6, brown, toothed, equaling or shorter than the achene.
Type locality: Montevideo, Uruguay {Humboldt).
Distribution : Chiefly in wet sand : South Carolina to Florida, west to California ; Mexico ; southern Brazil ; Uruguay ; Argentina.