after a little health detour, I was finally able to complete my review of zone 13. Since this was my first time on patrol, I started with a complete inventory of every plant I found, and there were MANY. But as far as I can tell, all were native and no issues found. I am including two photos with this post. This first, I believe, is either native water milfoil or water marigold? The second is a mystery; could not seem to find it in all the material Maria gave me. It was small plant(short) that looks a bit like waterweed, but only has two leaves in pairs, not three. I found these growing in fairly
shallow water with rocky bottom. I would love feedback on what these are.
Nice finds! I would agree with Don - excellent photos. And I would also agree that the first photo does appear to be Water Marigold as you laid it out on the tray - it made it easy to see the plant's stem and leaf arrangement. (We are getting a lot of practice seeing that plant over the past 2 seasons!) Remember that one critical way to nail any identification is by cutting out a cross section and getting a view of the stem + leaf arrangements.
Check out the "Look Alike" guide: You will see the native plant, Coontail, is a Water Marigold's look-alike. On the same page, the invasive plant, Fanwort, could fool the eye ... until yo…
Thanks for patrolling zone 13 Tim. Excellent photos - you are correct with water marigold for the first photo. The second plant is hedge hyssop which I’ve seen near my home along the shoreline. It’s not very common.