| Author | Lamarck | |
| Distribution | Essentially throughout the southern 35-40% of the Coastal Plain, including the Sandhills region -- especially within the Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) belts from Craven County southward, and also the Sandhills east to Cumberland County. A few widely scattered records for the Piedmont and Mountains all are misidentified E. decangulare.
This is a Southern species, ranging from NJ south to southern FL, and west to eastern TX. There are very few records outside of the Coastal Plain. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common in the two Longleaf Pine belts/zones, but generally uncommon in the south-central Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This species favors acidic, still waters of impoundment lakes and beaver ponds, ponded depressions in pinelands, sinkhole ponds, Pond Cypress bays. It does not occur in seepage bogs, seeps, or pitcher-plant bogs. | |
| Phenology | Flowers and fruits from April to October, though flowering mainly from late May through July. It flowers earlier than the similar E. decangulare. | |
| Identification | This is one of two tall/robust pipeworts in NC, along with E. decangulare. This species has one or several flowering scapes that can reach 1-1.5 feet tall. The many basal leaves are only about 4 inches long and 1/4-inch wide, rather thin in texture. The single head atop each scape is bright white, composed of many tiny white flowers, with the head about 1/2-inch across. The rather flat-topped heads are soft and are easily compressed within your fingers when squeezed. The similar and more common E. decangulare has a very hard head of flowers; when squeezed between two fingers, the head is indeed hard and cannot be easily compressed. Both species can grow together locally, such as beaver ponds, but ordinarily do not occur together in the same habitats. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Soft-headed Pipewort | |
| State Rank | S3? [S3S4] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
