. Common plants of longleaf pine-bluestem range. Plant ecology; Grasses; Forage plants. ANNUAL SPIKESEDGE Eleocharis microcarpa Torr. Annual spikesedge inhabits wet meadows and swampy areas. It grows in small clumps with many hairlike flower stalks averaging 6 inches high. Each stalk ends in a single ovoid, several-flowered spikelet about Va inch long. Spikelet scales are pale, and papery in texture. The inconspicuous basal leaves resemble the flower stalks but are usually shorter. The fruits are barely visible to the naked eye. With magnification, they appear ovate in outline. They are three-
. Common plants of longleaf pine-bluestem range. Plant ecology; Grasses; Forage plants. ANNUAL SPIKESEDGE Eleocharis microcarpa Torr. Annual spikesedge inhabits wet meadows and swampy areas. It grows in small clumps with many hairlike flower stalks averaging 6 inches high. Each stalk ends in a single ovoid, several-flowered spikelet about Va inch long. Spikelet scales are pale, and papery in texture. The inconspicuous basal leaves resemble the flower stalks but are usually shorter. The fruits are barely visible to the naked eye. With magnification, they appear ovate in outline. They are three-angled in cross section, with prom- inent green ribs. The persistent base of the style forms a green cap (tubercle) at the apex. Flowers appear in spring and seeds mature in early summer. Seeds germinate in late winter, and plants begin growth before most grasses. Cattle may graze this early herbage; otherwise annual spikesedge has little forage value. Another annual, conecap spikesedge, Eleocharis tuberculosa (Michx.) R. & S., resembles it in size and general appearance, but is distinguishable by its large tubercle, which equals the seed in size. Hairsedge, Bulbostylis capillaris (L.) C. B. Clarke, another small, fine-stemmed annual, is recogniz- able by its clusters of brown, ovoid spikelets at the branch tips. Range: Coastal Plain, Louisiana to Florida and Virginia. Annual. Stems slender, four-angled, 5-30 cm. tall, in small, many-stemmed tufts; leaves reduced to slender basal sheaths similar to flower stalks in appearance; inflorescence a terminal spikelet, lanceolate to oblong or ovate, 2-7 mm. long, mm. thick, several-flowered, lower flowers fall- ing when mature; flowers enclosed by scarious-margined scales; fruit a three-angled, obovoid achene, mm. in diameter with a minute warty tubercle at the Annual spikesedge 41. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, booksubjectforageplants, booksubjectgrasses
