Long but easy

August 1st on So Cove's zones 11 +10

Contrary to the littoral areas on the east side of those zones, the littoral area of the west side is really narrow in most places and it was not difficult to realize that I was seeing all the plant growth there was to see. However once I got into the smaller nooks and crannies along the shorefront there was more growth but never as heavy as on the east side of the same zones.

I found the majority of plants, everywhere, were Floating Hearts, Watershields, native Water Naiads, lilies, Pondweeds, Bladderwort, Pipewort, Water Marigold, and Elodea (native Waterweed.)

At one point, along the eastern sections of Zones 11 and 10, I was surprised to find thick clusters of Elodea and carpets of native Water Naiad mixed in with small-leaved pondweeds (more so this year than what I remember seeing last year.)

In both of these zones I worried that I might be looking at the invasive European Naiad because there was so much of it. So I made sure to frequently check these specimens for serrated edges along the leaves. The only way of doing that is have them in your hand … They all seemed to be native Water Naiads but I am going to ask Cliff Cabral to be sure to check these zones! (He does consider So Cove a “hotspot.”)

Attached is a photo of how similar the specimens of native Water Naiad and small floating-leaved Pondweeds can look in a platter. I consistently found these pondweeds of much shorter height than the native Water Naiads.

Native water Naiad (Lt) ......................... Small floating leaf pondweed (Rt)