And found interesting plants but nothing worrisome.
I set off this beautiful afternoon to finish zone 7 from grid 1833-1705 and then just kept zigzagging southward. Before I knew it I got through zone 8, and then I was through zone 9, and approaching the bottom of zone 10 (!) The adventure was finding "this-and-that" and it all ended at the top of zone 10, grid 424, 425 when hunger caught up with me and I called home for a chauffeured boat ride back. Luxury.
Of note, I found; photos below:
* A really nice collection of native plants in Wiley Brook cove (zone 7, grid 1751) featuring native milfoil, coontail, water naiad, native waterweed, assorted pondweeds but a lot of one in particular (pictured below with linear leaves + winter buds – potamogeton foliosus.) The web site, Go Botany, states “it is the only species of pondweed that has the linear leaves + an undulating wing-like keel on the fruits.” Along with some burgeoning common bladderworts I found another variety of some very small and delicate ones called Intermedia.
* Along Rocky Reef (zone 8, grid 1300) on several large rocks + another location just off of Boynton Island (grid 742) is a dramatically different variation of Fresh water sponge than I had seen in previous seasons. (Amy Smagula did confirm that they vary in texture and thickness.) This one has a weird, scarred appearance, unevenly thick/thin and leathery to the touch. The water effect makes even weirder (photo below).
* I finally got to compare a pipewort and a quillwort, side by side. Sorry, I forgot to record where I found the example of quillwort. Checking again with Go Botany, I believe I found a “spiny spored quillwort.” It seems that this variety can come in different sizes, colors, and forms. The distinct difference is certainly at the roots—white septates on the pipewort and none on the quillwort. (A side note: Amy Smagula states that the species of pipeworts we commonly find throughout Conway Lake, called Eriocaulon aquaticum, has long been associated with good water quality.) Sweet.
PHOTOS:
Row #1
Coontail + native milfoil Waterweed, quillwort, Bladderwort (Intermedia)
native naiad, pondweed + red water mite
Row #2
Fresh water sponge Pipewort + Quillwort Pipewort, roots
Row #3
Quillwort, roots