Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 09:59:01 -0700 From: "Andrew Marshall" <andrewm@olywa.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2370$foo@default> Subject: U. inflata as weed in WA.
Hi folks,
As one who lives in Washington and is very interested in Utrics here, I
have been keeping an eye on U. inflata. I have a large colony in the pond
inside my greenhouse for instance. This is a mixed bunch collected from the
local lake where it is abundant, and from a nearby lake where it also is
abundnat, but access is no longer available.
One feature I note (besides water quality/habitat requirments) that the
lakes I have visited where it occurs (not just the two I mentioned above,
but most of the lakes in which it occurs here) is that they have been
used/are being used by fishermen and have had/do have small boat access of
some sort, with one exception.
I have been carefully watching and trying to account for the occurance of
this plant in Washington, which is considered, as mentioned previously as a
noxious weed by the WDFW, and they get pretty annoyed if you move it around
btw. At first I believed it a nautral population *but* am not so inclined
now. It is my belief that the species was introduced by fishermen for the
most part to many of the more remote lakes. I think it originally arrived
though as an aquatic plant in some ones goldfish tank and was dumped when
they got tired.
>From there I think boat props, oars and such from careless boaters moved it
to the more remote sites such as the two lakes I know of locally. I say
this having worked in the tropical fish trade on the wholesale level a
number of years ago and was able to extract several species of aquatic
utric. from the roots of plants we imported from the SE. I was not able to
successfully keep them at the time, lacking skill and knowledge of the
exacting requirments. Perhaps I should have just dumped them in the local
lake and watched them thrive *G*
To the lake that has no boat access. There is a distinct track there
now where I used to drive, but it took some doing to get that there. I am
betting it has been over grown though since access was revoked. There is a
chance historically that boat access was available. What puzzles me though
is how U. gibba got there.
Best wishes
Andrew
come visit my site at http://cascadecarnivorous.plant.org let me know what
you think.
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