Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Beaked Spikerush Marsh

Colloquial Name: No Data Available

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This association is known from low to mid elevations in widely scattered intermontane basins and plains of the West. It is documented to occur in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Wyoming, and Colorado. It is suspected to occur in similar habitats in Nevada and British Columbia. This association forms sharply delineated, near-monocultural stands in areas with perennially saturated or inundated hydrologic conditions. It often occurs in association with warm springs or fens with alkaline or calcareous soils at the northern limits of its range, but it is also known from cold springs in desert canyons. This association forms on soils ranging from relatively deep organic soils, to alkaline and calcareous soils (e.g., travertine), to coarse mineral soils that are directly in contact with springs or thermal waters. There are two distinct phases of this association: a dense one with 90% cover of Eleocharis rostellata, occurring on relatively deep organic soils that sometimes form a quaking mat, and an open one with less than 70% Eleocharis rostellata cover. The open phase has considerable areas of exposed soil, gravel, rock, and water and appears restricted to mineral substrates on gentle to steep slopes. Low species diversity is characteristic of the Eleocharis rostellata association, and woody vegetation is lacking or if present only as a very minor component. Common associated species with low cover include Berula erecta, Castilleja minor ssp. minor, Carex simulata, Carex nebrascensis, Carex scirpoidea, Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda, Deschampsia cespitosa, Helianthus nuttallii, Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis, Juncus torreyi, Mimulus guttatus, Muhlenbergia asperifolia, Schoenoplectus americanus, Symphyotrichum ascendens, and Triglochin maritima.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Although described from a limited number of plots (e.g., 3 plots in Montana, 6 plots in Idaho), the Eleocharis rostellata association is sharply delineated in the field by its clear dominance of the diagnostic species (Jankovsky-Jones et al. 2001). In Montana, Hansen et al. (1995) lumped all combinations of Eleocharis rostellata and Eleocharis quinqueflora into an Eleocharis quinqueflora habitat type due to similarities in environmental conditions and management concerns. Observations in Montana by Lesica (1990) indicate that the Eleocharis rostellata association is distinct, and at least partially thermophilic, unlike the Eleocharis quinqueflora type. In some cases, Eleocharis rostellata may be confused with Eleocharis palustris, especially if the stolons of Eleocharis rostellata are not present or not obvious, but the sites on which these associations occur are very different ecologically. Eleocharis rostellata is sometimes codominant with Carex lasiocarpa and Calamagrostis spp. in rich fens of the prairie states (from South Dakota to Indiana), but it never forms dense, nearly monoculture stands such as in this type. A Schoenoplectus americanus - Eleocharis rostellata community has been identified in the Owens Valley of California (Odion et al. 1992). The Eleocharis rostellata community considered here has no similarity to these types, other than their occurrence on saline or alkaline/calcareous sites. Eleocharis rostellata is a dominant plant in 4 different tidal marsh or salt meadow vegetation communities ranging from Louisiana to Florida, north to Delaware. A fen type, with codominant Eleocharis rostellata, occurs at sea level from Virginia to Maine. These eastern associations have no similarity in composition or ecology to the western, non-coastal association considered here.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available