Eleocharis gracilis R.Br.
E. gracilis R.Br. var. gracillima Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 270.
E. gracilis R. Br. var. radicans Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 270.
E. cunninghamii Boeck. in Flora 41, 1858, 412,
E. gracillima (Hook. f.) Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1867, 745.
E. hookeri Boeck. in Linnaea 36, 1870, 430.
Type locality: Australian. Type: BM. Also recorded from Norfolk Id.
Rhizome creeping, 1–3 mm. diam., loosely ensheathed at each node by large, us. dark red-purple, obtuse bracts with broad membr. margins. Culms (2)–3–20–(40) cm. × c. 0.5 mm., tufted or close together in a linear series, erect or curved; sheaths membr. with red-purple markings and oblique orifice. Spikelets 3–7–(8) × 1–3 mm., 5–20-fld, ovoid to almost lanceolate, subacute. Glumes oblong, obtuse, 1-nerved, membr. margin often very broad. Hypog. bristles 4–8, us. > nut. Stamens 3. Style 3-fid. Nut slightly < 1.5 mm. long, slightly < 1 mm. diam., trigonous, obovoid, light to dark brown, smooth, surmounted by the pyramidal, persistent style-base.
DIST.: N., S., St., Ch.
Damp ground, lowland swamps, sphagnum bogs and edges of streams; sea level to 1,400 m. altitude.
A variable sp. and for this reason with a complicated synonymy.
E. gracilis was at first confused with the European E. acicularis (L.) Roem. et Schult. The earliest misidentification was published by Richard (Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832. 103). He described a specimen from Astrolabe Bay, D'Urville, 1827 (now at P) under the name Isolepis acicularis.
Both Blake (Proc. roy. Soc. Qd 50, 1939, 112) and Black (Fl. S. Aust. 1943, 160) describe the nut of E. gracilis as 3-ribbed. N.Z. plants do not seem to have thickened angles on the nut and Cheeseman does not mention this. Spikelets in Australian specimens are from 5–12 mm. long; on the average this is longer than spikelets in N.Z. plants.
