Slim Spikerush
Eleocharis elongata
Found in quiet waters of limesink (doline) ponds, Everglades sawgrass sloughs. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- Up to about 32 inches
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Wet to standing water
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- July to August
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
County records are not available.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Depression ponds and limesinks
Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food. 156 animals.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Red-shouldered HawkButeo lineatus
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
Who uses this plant?
5CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Eleocharis
- Bactra furfuranaRush Bactra
- Cisseps fulvicollisYellow-Collared Scape Moth
- Elophila obliteralisWaterlily Leafcutter Moth
- Parapoynx allionealisWatermilfoil Leafcutter, Bladderwort Casemaker
- Donacaula dispersella
14BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Eleocharis
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Anas creccaGreen-winged Teal
- Anas rubripesAmerican Black Duck
- Anser caerulescensSnow Goose
- Antigone canadensisSandhill Crane
- Aythya collarisRing-necked Duck
- Branta canadensisCanada Goose
- Dendrocygna bicolorFulvous Whistling-Duck
- Fulica americanaAmerican Coot
- Gallinula galeataCommon Gallinule
Show all 14
- Mareca americanaAmerican Wigeon
- Mareca streperaGadwall
- Porzana carolinaSora
- Spatula cyanopteraCinnamon Teal
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Flower color
- Red, green, brown or black
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to August” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Red, green, brown or black” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 32 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Water; Wet (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5? |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

























