[3] The species has worldwide but very spotty distribution and is native in many tropical and subtropical regions in America, Asia and Africa.

Culms have cylindric (with indentations or not) or 3-angled shape and are hair-like, becoming slimmer in the more distal whorls.

The branching repeated until nodes of the 4th order but the final subtending sterile culms or less often a stalked spikelet.

Nodes subtend by greyish, pink or dark purple reduced leaves which are small and thin (bracts).

They are green or greyish with a reddish-brown central line and the median portion is thicker.

They have lanceolate shape (narrowly ovate and tapering to a point at the apex), 8–12 mm long, the lower is shorter and has 3-veined, while the upper has 1-veined.

The specific epithet confervoides is New Latin and is derived from word Conferva which means seething, denoting “crowded-looking”[6] The species, as the most species of Eleocharis, needs warm and wet climate to grow.

It prospers in very soft loose organic substrate into the water, and even in sandhill upland lake.

It is originated from Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Florida, Gabon, Georgia, Honduras, Ivory Coast, India, Madagascar, French Guiana, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Nigeria, Guyana, Paraguay, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Zambia, Zaire and is very widespread there.

It is found in Ivory Coast, S. Nigeria, Congo-Kinshasa, Zambia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Cuba, Trinidad, Guiana, Paraguay, Venezuela, Guatemala, Florida, and S. Carolina.

The genera Bulbostylis and Fimbristylis which are close relatives of Eleocharis, are placed in tribe Abildgaardieae.