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Name derivation:
‘Graceful marsh dweller’: Greek words ἕλειος (heleios), meaning "marsh dweller," and χάρις (charis), meaning "grace." Sedges having dense spikes of flowers and leaves reduced to basal sheaths
Classification:
Eleocharis R. Br.; approximately 200 of 600 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Gonzáles-Elizondo and Peterson 1997). Order Cyperales; Family Cyperaceae. Perennating buds at the apex of the rhizomes (Walters 1950).
Morphology:
Rhizome with several haulms (spike-like stems), each a terminal shoot. Leaves are basal sheaths on haulms. The fruit is a biconvex nut 1-2 mm diameter. Most of the haulms die at the end of the growing season, leaving only buds produced at the apices of rhizomes to overwinter (Ibid.).
Similar genera:
Habitat:
Widespread (‘cosmopolitan’) distribution globally. Greatest species diversity is in the Amazon Rainforest and eastern slopes of the Andes mountain range to an altitude > 5,000 meters.. Also diverse in southern Africa and subtropical Asia.
References:
Gonzáles-Elizondo, M.S. and P.M. Peterson 1997, A classification of and key to the supraspecific taxa in Eleocharis (Cyperaceae). Taxon 46:433-449. Walters, S.M. 1950. On the vegetative morphology of Eleocharis R.Br. New Phytologist 49(1):1-7.