Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Cyperaceae Juss.
Genus
Eleocharis R.Br.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Eleocharis gracilis R.Br. (1810)
Synonymy:
  • = Eleocharis gracilis var. gracillima Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 270 (1853)
  • ≡ Eleocharis gracillima (Hook,f.) Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 745 (1867)
  • = Eleocharis gracilis var. radicans Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 270 (1853)
  • = Eleocharis cunninghamii Boeckeler (1858)
  • = Eleocharis hookeri Boeckeler (1870)
Vernacular Name(s):
Slender spike sedge
 Description

Rhizome creeping, 1–3 mm. diam., loosely ensheathed at each node by large, us. dark red-purple, obtuse bracts with broad membr. margins. Culms (2)–3–20–(40) cm. × c. 0.5 mm., tufted or close together in a linear series, erect or curved; sheaths membr. with red-purple markings and oblique orifice. Spikelets 3–7–(8) × 1–3 mm., 5–20-fld, ovoid to almost lanceolate, subacute. Glumes oblong, obtuse, 1-nerved, membr. margin often very broad. Hypog. bristles 4–8, us. > nut. Stamens 3. Style 3-fid. Nut slightly < 1.5 mm. long, slightly < 1 mm. diam., trigonous, obovoid, light to dark brown, smooth, surmounted by the pyramidal, persistent style-base.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Hooker, J.D. 1867: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's, and Macquarrie's Islands. Part II. Reeve, London.