Slender Spike Rush

Eleocharis tenuis (Wilid.) Schultes in R. & S Syst. Veg. Mant. 2 : 89. 1824.
(Virginia.) Not Eleocharis capitata R. Br. 1810. 138. 1791. (New York.) Not S. filiformis Burm. f.
1918. Not Eleocharis capitata R. Br.
1920. 1932.
202. 1932. (Arkansas.)
(New Jersey.)
Scirpiis capifatus L. Sp. PI. 48. 1753. Scirpus filiformis Lam. Tab. Encyc. 1 :
1768. Scirpus tenuis Willd. Enum. 76. 1809. (Pennsylvania.) Isolepis filiformis R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 106. 1817. Eleogiton filiformis A. Dietr. Sp. PI. 2 : 96. 1833. Eleocharis filiformis Kunth, Enum. PI. 2 : 146. 1837. Eleocharis capitata (L.) sensu Blake, Rhodora 20 : 24.
1810. Trichophyllum tenuis Farwell, Rep. Mich. Acad. 21 : 359. Eleocharis capitata var. typica Svenson, Rhodora 34 : 199 Eleocharis capitata var. pseudoptera Weath. in Svenson, Rhodora 34 Eleocharis capitata var. verrucosa Svenson, Rhodora 34 : 202. 1932, Eleocharis tenuis var. pseudoptera Svenson, Rhodora 41 : 65. 1939. Eleocharis tenuis var. verrucosa Svenson, Rhodora 41 : 66. 1939.
Culms capillary or filiform, 0.5-4 dm. high, usually quadrangular with slightly concave sides or five-angled, erect from a thickened, creeping, ligneous rootstock; stolons thickened, elongate, covered w^ith acute, brown or reddish scales ; sheaths truncate at the apex, with a short mucro ; spikelets ellipsoid to ovoid, acute or blunt, 3-10 mm. long, 20-30-flowered ; scales ovate, obtuse or acute, reddish-brown to black, with a scarious margin and green keel, the lowest scale suborbicular and larger ; styles trifid ; stamens 3 ; achene obovoid, 0.8-1 mm. long, trigonous, olivaceous, alveolate, with wavy transverse bands formed by the projecting angles of the vertically elongated cells ; style-base brownish, pyramidal or depressed ; bristles 2 or 3, rarely persisting, light brown, less than half as long as the achene. Type locality : Pennsylvania.
Distribution : Cape Breton to South Carolina, west to Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.