The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Eleocharis atropurpurea
Purple spikerush is a small annual sedge that grows in tufts in wet ground or shallow water, rarely over 10 cm tall. Keep its roots moist or submerged and it will thrive.
Eleocharis atropurpurea is a species of spikesedge known by the common name purple spikerush. This is an aquatic plant native to much of Africa, eastern and southern Asia, Australia, and Latin America. It also has a wide distribution in temperate regions of North and South America and Asia. It is present in Europe, where it may be an introduced species for the most part.
Eleocharis atropurpurea can be found in wet areas from ocean shores to rice fields and irrigation ditches to inland lakes and rivers. This is an annual sedge rarely exceeding ten centimeters in height. It grows in tufts with few reddish-green leaves and many thin erect stems. Atop each stem is an oval-shaped, pointed inflorescence consisting of a spikelet under a centimeter long and containing at least ten flowers. Each tiny flower is covered by a bract which is a purplish-brown color.
Needle spikerush · Glades spikerush · Chinese water chestnut · Yellow spikerush · Pale spikerush · Sand spikerush · Ovate spikerush · Common spikerush · Parish's spikerush · Fewflower spikerush · Beaked spikerush · Viviparous spikerush
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eleocharis atropurpurea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
