Canada’s Spikerush

Eleocharis geniculata

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.