• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
AquaPlant
AquaPlantA Diagnostics Tool for Pond Plants and Algae
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Identify a Plant
  • Do I need a permit?
  • FAQs
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Online Courses
  • Get Help

Baldwin’s Spikerush

Eleocharis baldwinii

Baldwin's Spikerush Locations in North America
Baldwin's Spikerush Locations in Southeast US

USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 28 March 2018). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
Illustration courtesy of University of Florida/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Used with permission.

What is Baldwin’s Spikerush?

Physical Characteristics

Leaves:

  • Sheaths mostly reddish in color

Scales:

  • Strong green midnerve
  • Sword- or elliptical-shaped
  • 0.13-0.17 inches long

Flowers:

Spikelets:

  • Mostly at the base of the plant
  • Elliptical-shaped
  • 0.16-0.28 inches long
  • 5-10 flowers

Fruit:

  • Egg-shaped
  • 0.02 inches long
  • Whitish-olive or olive brown in color
  • 3 corners
  • Smooth
  • One-seeded
  • Does not open to release seed when ripe

Stem:

  • Hollow stem
  • 2.36-7.9 inches long
  • About 0.02 inches thick

Where Does it Grow?

Baldwin’s spikerush can be found in soft, muddy ground and around pools.

Pros and Cons of Baldwin’s Spikerush

Docks, geese, muskrats, and nutria all eat portions of spikerush from seeds, to rhizomes and tubers. 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.

How to Manage This Plant
Plant Glossary

2023 Aquatic Webinars

Apr. 18: Pond Stocking 

May 16: Aquatic Plant ID & Management Options

Jun 20: Fish Management Strategies

Email Subscription

Receive updates on upcoming webinars and newly published materials.

Sign Up Now

Search for a type of plant

Hire a Professional Contact Your Ag & Natural Resource Agent Aquatic Plant Nurseries Permissions and Citations Aquatic Herbicide Tables
Aquatic Vegetation ID Cards
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member

Photo Credits: The majority of the aquatic plant line drawings are the copyright of the University of Florida Center for Aquatic Plants (Gainsville). They are used with permission.

Aquatic plant photographs were provided by David Bayne, Jim Davis, Kelly Duffie, Billy Higginbotham, Michael Masser, John Clayton, Chetta Owens, Diane Smith, Joe Snow, Don Steinbach, Bridget Robinson Lassiter and Peter Woods.

You may use these photos, so long as you give credit to AquaPlant.

  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information