Index / Search / Eleocharis palustris
§1 Plant — species · Cyperaceae
Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult.
vernacular common spikerush
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Cyperaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Eleocharis
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- GL Greenland Native
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- High
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 100 min.
- Precipitation
- 16–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4–8
- Root depth
- 14 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 1.3 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Dark Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Brown
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- Yes
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Fall
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- seed, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 20 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 20 counties
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ELPA3 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2717002 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z