Eleocharis complanata Boeckeler

Global description

Eleocharis complanata is a small, annual plant that grows in dense tufts in marshy areas. Stems erect are green, flattened and striated. They do not exceed 25 cm high and 1.5 mm thick. The leaves are reduced to sheaths without limamina. They are limited to the base of the stem. The inflorescence is an ovoid spickelet, located at the end of the stem.

General habit

Aquatic annual plant 10 to 25 cm high, forming dense tufts, composed of simple stems without apparent leaves. Most are fertile and end with a short spickelet.

Underground system

Fasciculate roots starting from a more or less distinct rhizome.

Stem

The stems are green. They are gathered in clumps. They are erect, flattened, ridged, not septate, 10 to 25 cm high and 1 to 1.5 mm thick, glabrous.

Leaf

The leaves are reduced to a very short tubular membranous sheath, limited to the base of the stem. There is no distinct limb.

Inflorescence

The inflorescence is a small, single terminal spikelet. It is ovoid, without bracts at the base. Its end is not pointed. It is composed of many flowers. It is approximately 5 mm long. It is pale or purplish.

Flower

The glumes are obtuse. The first two are sterile. They have a prominent middle part and broadly membranous margins. The flowers are bisexual. The ovary is surrounded by filiform pieces corresponding to the perianth. It is surmounted by a wide-based style and a stigma with 3 branches.

Fruit

It is an achene of clearly triangular section surmounted by a thick triangular bill corresponding to the persistent base of the style.

Worldwide distribution

Eleocharis complanata is present only in Africa, from Guinea to Sudan, Tanzania and Angola.

https://www.gbif.org/species/2717106