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Canada’s Spikerush

Eleocharis geniculata

Canada's Spikerush Locations in North America
Canada'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.

What is Canada’s Spikerush?

Physical Characteristics

Leaves:

Scales:

  • Widely egg-shaped
  • 0.06-0.08 inches long
  • Firm
  • Hidden midrib

Flowers:

  • 28-50 flowers per spikelet
  • About 7 short, soft & dark hairs

Spikelet:

  • 0.13-0.25 inches long
  • Egg-shaped

Fruit:

  • One seeded
  • Does not open to release seed when ripe
  • 0.03-0.05 inches long
  • Pear- or egg-shaped
  • Bulging on both sides
  • Ripening from colors of pale-green to purplish black
  • Shiny

Stem:

  • Densely clustered
  • Hollow stems
  • 1.5-11.8 inches long
  • 0.03-0.05 inches thick
  • Smaller at end than at base

Where Does it Grow?

Canada’s spikerush can be found in moist soil rich in calcium carbonate, wet mud, or on wet lake shores and streams.

Pros and Cons of Canada’s Spikerush

Docks, geese, muskrats, and nutria all eat portions of spike rushes, 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

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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.

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