Distribution: Circumboreal, south in North America to California and New Jersey.
Habitat: Bogs and other wet places, from the lowlands to high elevations in the mountains.
Flowers: June - August
Origin: Native
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Herbaceous perennial from short, stout rhizomes; also with elongate, slender stolons with a terminal bud; culms 1-3 dm. tall, under 1 mm. thick.
Leaves all basal and reduced to sheaths.
Spikelet terminal and solitary, 4-8 mm. long, 3- to 9-flowered; scales spirally arranged, 2.5-5.5 mm. long, the lower 2 larger than the others but subtending flowers; perianth bristles longer or shorter than the achene; stamens 3; stigma trifid, thickened at the base.
Achenes broadest above the middle, 1.9-2.6 mm. long including the short stylar beak which is continuous with the body of the 3-ribbed, triangular or plano-convex achene.
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Eleocharis quinqueflora in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.
WA Flora Checklist: Eleocharis quinqueflora checklist entry.
E-Flora BC: Eleocharis quinqueflora atlas page.
CalPhotos: Eleocharis quinqueflora photos.
USDA Plants: Eleocharis quinqueflora information.