Bright Green Spike Rush

Eleocharis olivacea Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3 : 300. 1836
Scirpus olivaceus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2: 758. 1891. Trichophyllum olivaceum House, Am. Midi. Nat. 6 : 205. 1920. Eleocharis flaccida var. olivacea Fern. & Grisc. Rhodora 37 : 155. 1935.
Culms light green, often decumbent, 2-15 cm. long (3 dm. in elongate plants from the southern states), flattened and grooved, diffusely tufted from slender rootstocks; apex of the upper sheath membranous but not conspicuously dilated ; spikelets oblong-ovoid, acute, 20-30flowered, 3-7 mm. long; scales ovate, rather membranous and loosely imbricated, with green keel and brown sides, sometimes green throughout ; style bifid ; stamens 2 or 3 ; achene obovoid, narrowed at the base, 1 mm. long, olive to dark brown, the surface punctulate and often marcescent; style-base conic, light green, annular-thickened at the base, one-fourth as wide as the achene, sometimes prolonged into a subulate beak; bristles 6-8 (usually 7), green or whitish, opaque or semi-translucent, exceeding the achene, retrorsely toothed.
Type locality: "Pine barrens of New Jersey!"
Distribution : Chiefly near the coast from Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick to Virginia, inland to the Great Lakes, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; also in South Carolina (Aiken), northern Georgia (Stone Mt.), and western Florida.