Fewflowered Spikerush

Eleocharis oligantha Clarke, Symb. Ant. 2 : 69. 1900
Dwarf, densely matted, often proliferous annual ; culms finely capillary, 2-5 cm. long, often recurved or prostrate, punctate, quadrangular-sulcate ; sheath stramineous to reddish, scarious and slightly inflated at the apex ; spikelets 1-3 mm. long, ovate, 2-6-flowered ; scales dark purplish-brown, keeled, spreading in fruit; style trifid; achene 1 mm. long, trigonous, sharply-angled, whitish, becoming gray to dark olive-brown when ripe, faintly punctatereticulate ; style-base usually lighter, pyramidal, acute, somewhat 3-crested at the base with overhanging projections; bristles hyaline, obscurely retrorse-toothed, rudimentary to nearly as long as the achene.
Type locality: Probably western Cuba (C. Wright 3367, 3368). Distribution : Western and central Cuba.