This distinctive annual or short-lived perennial occurs mostly in Atlantic and southeastern coastal states. It was recently collected in swampy woods of CLIN by Naczi et al. (2002). It differs from other eastern Eleocharis of Ky. in its roughly reticulate achense capped with an unusually broad tubercule about a large as the achene; plants usually form dense broad tussocks; 2n = 30 (FNA 23).