Eleocharis engelmannii

Engelmann's spikerush

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: annual · Native

Engelmann's spikerush is a California native annual found in wetland and aquatic habitats at low elevations. Flowering from spring to summer, this delicate spikerush produces minute flowers in slender cylindrical spikes 5 to 10 millimeters long. Growing in dense tufts with thin stems 2 to 40 centimeters tall, it forms compact clusters without underground rhizomes. Its leaf sheaths are firm and persistent, with a subtle tooth-like projection at the tip less than 0.3 millimeters long. The tiny fruit is smooth, wide-truncate, and features a small flat tubercle that covers nearly one-quarter of its surface.

California counties: Riverside, Nevada, Butte, Plumas, Colusa, Mariposa, Siskiyou, Trinity, Fresno, Shasta, Placer, Sutter, Madera, Tuolumne, Lake, Yuba, Marin, Stanislaus, Lassen, Glenn, Tehama, Sierra, Humboldt, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Yolo, Napa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.