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  • Writer's picturemariagross

Those rosettes you see all over the lake’s floor:Pipeworts or Quillworts?


I have been on the hunt and for the sake of a show-and-tell here are my findings.

I have now found 2 varieties of Quillwort that present different basal leaves. A skinny leafed variety that I found in Conway lake, which I called Spiney spored quillwort in my last post, and another with wider leaves at its base. I found that one in large Pea Porridge Pond in Madison/Conway about a week ago and then, just yesterday, I found the same wider leafed variety right in front of my dock (grid #1791)


Know that a pipewort can give us a flower but a quillwort will not. However the definitive clue is found on the roots and whether they are striped (with septa) … therefore a pipewort ... or none at all which makes it a quillwort.


Below, L to R, quillwort, pipewort, quillwort ... all from Conway Lake


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