Creeping Spike Rush

Creeping Spike Rush

Eleocharis palustris

Creeping Spikerush is a perennial, heavily rhizomatous wetland plant that is found from low to mid elevations. Creeping Spikerush has a moderately high protein content in the spring and good digestibility. The tops are heavily grazed by both livestock and big game animals, especially after the seeds have ripened. It produces nesting cover for waterfowl. It grows in wet meadows, irrigation ditches, springs, seepage areas, freshwater marshes, rivers, and along lakeshores. It is a pioneering species that populates mud flats very quickly as the water draws down. It can grow in areas that are flooded in the spring and saturated in the fall. It can grow in flooded conditions where the water is up to one meter deep for most of the growing season. It grows on fine texture soils in neutral to alkaline or saline conditions.