Spike Rush

Description

Management Options

Other Photos

Eleocharis spp.

There are many species of spike rush and they are difficult to identify without using detailed botanical keys. In general, spike rushes are small (although some reach heights of 4 feet) perennial plants are often confused with the smaller species of rushes, grasses, or sedges. Slender spike rush can grow completely underwater and appear as a submerged plant.

Spike rushes can grow in shallow water or moist soils and grow from rhizomes. Stems are unbranched with sheaths around the base but can be round, square, or flattened depending on the species. All spike rushes have small fruiting spikes at the tips of the stem.

Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc.). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called "detritus") for many aquatic invertebrates. Docks, geese, muskrats, and nutria all eat portions of spike rushes, from seeds, to rhizomes and tubers.

Emergent Plant Index

"" indicates Non-Native plants.
Alligator Weed American Lotus Arrowhead (Bull Tongue) Banana Lily (Floating Heart) Blue Flag Bulrush Bull Tongue (Arrowhead) Buttonbush Cattail Common Reed Cow Lily (Spatterdock) Dollar Bonnet (Water Shield) Floating Heart (Banana Lily) Fragrant Water Lily (White Water Lily) Frog's-bit Giant Reed Horsetail Lizard's Tail Maidencane Mexican Water Lily (Yellow Water Lily)	Pickerelweed Sedges Smartweed (Water Pepper) Soft Rush Southern Watergrass Spatterdock (Cow Lily) Spike Rush Three-Square Torpedograss Waterleaf Water Pennywort Water Pepper (Smartweed) Water Primrose Water Shield (Dollar Bonnet) White Water Lily (Fragrant Water Lily) Willow Yellow Water Lily (Mexican Water Lily)