August 7 — Zones 10 + 11 along east shorelines, all grids up to #264
BTW: I requested that Cliff patrol So Cove zones 10 and 11 up to Boynton Island to view the abundant naiads that are growing there (more so than I remember any other year.) I realized that I was not picking up any with serrated leaves (a visible signal of the invasive European naiad that is in nearby lakes) but I worried that I might have been missing them. Cliff found the zones to be clean.
Gitch Whalen and I went for a So Cove patrol training and it proved (once again) to be the ideal location for sharpening the abilities to “see” more native plants that are out there to be found and identified. I’ve been finding a lot more plant growth every week.
We saw native Water Marigold, Elodea (native waterweed,) native Water Naiads (both the green and purple variety,) and a small patch of native Milfoil (GPS:43 º 56’6”N 71 º3’34”W) in grid 264 right off of the largest rock at the end of a path leading to the lake. We also saw every kind of bladderwort and pondweed proliferating the water column with lovely fruits and/or flowers.
We found one variety of bladderwort that I had never seen before … or perhaps, as the case may be, I didn’t realize that it has always been there but now eyes can start focusing on them: Utricularia radiata, both green and dark stemmed, one with a super pretty flower. This specie is really delicate looking with leaves that are thread-like. Photos attached:
Also found that bladderwort “army” formations (see photo below) are increasingly more evident as well. These are the Utricularia intermedia and they remain low to the lake floor with bladders situated lower on the stems. (See pg59 in the Maine Field guide.) BTW if anyone wants to buy one of these books, let me know.
Gitch and I also found something new and so pretty that looked like clear soft “marbles” struck onto different parts of a native Water Marigold. I asked Amy Smagula about it: Those look like Ophrydium, a colonial animal species. The green color comes from a symbiotic algae (Chlorella) that lives inside the colony. Not harmful, quite common. I found a website about it: https://askanaturalist.com/what-are-these-green-jelly-blobs/
Photo of Ophrydium:
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