Eleocharis pachycarpa

Black sand spikerush

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Black sand spikerush is a naturalized perennial herb found in northern California coastal areas, central Sierra Nevada foothills, Great Valley, and North Coast Ranges in fresh shorelines, ponds, and streambeds at elevations of 100 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from late spring to summer, this plant produces small spikelets 3 to 10 millimeters long in dense clusters. Growing in compact clumps with sharp four-angled stems 7 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms a tough, mostly hidden rhizome-like caudex. Its leaf sheaths are firm and persistent with acute tips, and the plant develops distinctive three-sided fruits less than 1.2 millimeters wide. The spikelets often form small plantlets, with 8 to 15 flower bracts and three-part stigmas.

Habitat: Local, uncommon. Fresh shores, ponds, streambeds, seeps, springs, fens

Bloom period: Late spring-summer

Elevation: 100-1400 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRO, n SN, c SNF, GV, SCoRO, MP

California counties: Calaveras, Butte, Humboldt, Sacramento, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Yuba, Marin, Modoc, Stanislaus, San Luis Obispo, Amador

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