4 replies to this topic

[PeterE]

These tubers keep washing up on the shore of a small slough near me in west central Minnesota. They're interspersed with lots of what I think are smaller Stuckenia pectinata tubers and stems in wind-blown mats but are different enough to make me think it's another species. The only other submerged aquatic plants I've seen are a Potamogeton, maybe perfoliatus, and hornwort.

 

As a side note these kinds of sloughs are pretty interesting because of the year-to-year changes they go through, being shallow enough to freeze to the bottom and kill off most of their inhabitants every winter. Usually there's just fathead minnows and brook sticklebacks but this year a pretty substantial white sucker population has emerged from the ice -- hopefully some made it too!

 

 

 

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[gerald]

from Wikipedia:  "Some aquatic plant species produce overwintering turions, especially in the genera Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Aldrovanda and Utricularia."

[PeterE]

I don't really think it's a turion, though -- it doesn't look like any from those species that I've seen. It looks like a genuine tuber, as far as I can tell.

[gerald]

Send the photo to whatever MN state agency deals with aquatic weed control, or a local university herbarium manager.

[PeterE]

I'm pretty sure it's a Lycopus, now the question is do they grow submerged...