Almost a Fun find in Zone 9!

With the departure of family and guests and a gloriously sunny Monday with calm wind and a lake devoid of boats, I was able to take my time and do a "deep dive" of Zones 9 and 8 today. The west side of 9 is flourishing in littoral life; Zone 8 is dark and quickly gets deep so not much going on there. What I did see in Zone 9 included lots of the "usual" and -- I think!! -- a couple of groups of Coontail toward the very southern end of 9, opposite Boyton Island. I didn't want to pull it up so got the best pics I could in the calm waters. According to the AIS guide, the other known spotting of this plant is near Wiley Brook.

Maria's addendum, added a few days after this post was shared:

Turns out that Coontail, Water Marigold and Invasive milfoil all have a way of looking alike. As a result it is truly with a cross section of any plant that will offer the definitive answer of what it is you found. Shortly after Steve posted his findings we wanted to go out together and check those plants again.

Remember: The AIS patrol is a team and careful decisions were made. If the group of plants that Steve had found was indeed invasive his correct hesitation to disturb one specimen and spread possible fragments into the water column - a totally respectable caution that Amy promotes - would have allowed the group to continue to spread before corrective action might have been taken. We've all experienced how days can have a way of lapsing into weeks. But suddenly on a morning only a few days later, when Steve just happened to be out of town, the opportunity offered itself to me to spring out and go for a plant's cross section while there was no wind, one beautiful blue sky .... and I could easily get a small sample. Amy does say "If in doubt pull the plant out" but she would prefer the more measured approach of reaching for the plant and pinching off a sample.

The cross section made to determine the group of plants as Water Marigolds is attached below Steve's photos