keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

658 ERIOCAULACEAE/ERIOCAULON
basal rosette, linear, sheath-like at base; inflorescence a compact, hemispherical to globose head
terminating an elongate scape; bracts and perianth parts often with conspicuous, clavate, whitish
hairs; flowers small (ca. 3 mm or less long) and crowded together; sepals 2; petals 2; male
flowers with (3–)4(–6) stamens; carpels 2.
AA genus of ca. 400 species of tropical and warm areas, including Japan and North America,
most aquatic or in wet, acidic habitats (Kral 2000b). The dried inflorescences are sometimes
used in floral arrangements (Judd et al. 1999). (Greek: erion, wool, and caulos, a stalk, from the
wool at the base of the scape in the first named species)
REFERENCES: Kral 1966b; Watson et al. 1994.
1. Heads 3–4 mm broad at flowering time, dark gray or gray-green except for pale “rims” of white
ciliate perianth parts and receptacular bracts and pale outer involucral bracts; plants diminutive,
the mature scapes only 5–8 cm long; receptacle surface glabrous; species rare in East TX
_________________________________________________________________________ E. koernickianum
1. Heads 5–20 mm broad at flowering time, white or gray; plants usually larger, the mature scapes
5–110 cm long; receptacle surface hairy; including species widespread and common (in appropriate
habitats) in East TX.
2. Heads soft, much compressed when pressed and dried; sheaths of the scapes exceeding all
or most leaves in length; involucral bracts grayish, obtuse or rounded apically; receptacular
bracts grayish, acute apically; petals of pistillate flowers with inner (= adaxial) surface villous;
clavate hairs of perianth with all cells whitened and opaque; plants of aquatic or wet situations,
flowering and fruiting in winter, spring, or early summer.
3. Heads 10–20 mm broad at flowering time; scapes 20–70 cm long; leaves 5–30 cm long;
roots usually 1 mm or more broad; corollas of staminate flowers with lobes conspicuously
unequal ________________________________________________________________ E. compressum
3. Heads usually ca. 5–10 mm broad at flowering time; scapes usually 5–30 cm long; leaves 1–
5(–7) cm long; roots usually 1 mm or less broad; corollas of staminate flowers with lobes
subequal ____________________________________________________________________ E. texense
2. Heads very hard, only slightly compressed when pressed and dried; sheaths of the scapes
usually exceeded in length by most of the leaves; involucral bracts straw-colored, acute apically;
receptacular bracts pale, narrowly acute to acuminate apically; petals of pistillate flowers with
inner surface glabrous; clavate hairs of the perianth with terminal cells whitened and opaque,
but some or all of such hairs with basal cells not white but transparent; plants of moist but
seldom aquatic or permanently wet situations, flowering late spring or summer and fruiting
in summer and fall ___________________________________________________________ E. decangulare
Eriocaulon compressum Lam., (compressed, flattened), FLATTENED PIPEWORT. Leaves 5–30 cm
long; mature scapes 20–70 cm long; mature (flowering) heads hemispherical or globose, 10–20
mm broad, chalk white except for the dark exserted tips of the receptacular bracts and anthers;
outer involucral bracts 2–3 mm long, obtuse or rounded, grayish-translucent; surface of receptacle
with multicellular, translucent hairs; receptacular bracts acute; sepals translucent, with
clavate white hairs on the back. Sands or sandy peats of wet areas such as acid ponds, swamps,
and pine savannahs; Newton (BRIT), Hardin (TAES), Anderson (TAMU), Jasper, Tyler (VDB),
and Jefferson (Turner et al. 2003) cos. in the Pineywoods; also n Gulf Prairies and Marshes; se
U.S. from VA s to FL w to TX. Spring. Kral (1966b) indicated that “This is perhaps the showiest
of all the Eriocaulaceae of the southeastern United States, in springtime so abundantly decorating
the shallow water of pinelands as to appear like a shower of white confetti.” This is the most
aquatic of the species occurring in East TX (Kral 2000b). (TOES 1993: V) �
Eriocaulon decangulare L., (ten-angled), TEN-ANGLE PIPEWORT, PIPEWORT. Leaves 10–40 cm long;
mature scapes 30–110 cm long; mature heads subglobose, 10–20 mm broad, dull white, hard;
lowermost flowers and receptacular bracts reflexed and obscuring the subtending involucral