Eleocharis macbarronii
K.L.WilsonPerennial, short- or long-rhizomatous or with small ovoid tubers, occasionally proliferating. Culms terete, smooth or grooved, 25–75 cm high, 0.8–1.5 mm diam. Spikelet cylindric, 5–18 mm long; glumes acute to obtuse, with indistinct midrib, pale straw-coloured, margins hyaline, to 3.5 mm long; hypogynous bristles absent; stamens 3; anthers 1–2.5 mm long; style 3-fid. Nut turgidly biconvex to terete, obpyriform to broad-obovoid, narrowed to neck, with c. 8–15 prominent longitudinal ridges and transversely elongated cells on each face, yellow-brown, tinged very dark brown, 1.2–1.5 mm long, 0.7–1 mm diam.; style-base c. one-sixth as long and one-half as wide as nut. Flowers spring–summer.
LoM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, HSF. Also Qld, NSW. Scattered in the west (e.g. Natimuk, Kaniva, Mortlake and Keilor areas) and north (near Stanhope) where usually occurring along drainage lines in areas of heavy, often clayey soils, sometimes partly submerged.
Like E. atricha, this species commonly does not produce viable seed, persisting through dry spells by the small tubers, and spreading in the growing season by rhizomes and proliferation of inflorescences.
Wilson, K.L. (1994). Cyperaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 2, Ferns and Allied Plants, Conifers and Monocotyledons, pp. 238–356. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
