Origin: Introduced from Eurasia
Voucher:WTU (view specimen records)
Notes: FNA22: "Potamogeton crispus, an introduced species, has spread throughout much of North America. The expansion of this species’s range from its original collection in North America, apparently about 1840, has been discussed (R. L. Stuckey 1979). This is the only species of pondweeds in North America with serrate leaves and consequently it is easily recognized.
Life history of Potamogeton crispus is unusual as it flowers and fruits in late spring and early summer, at which time it also produces turions. The plants decay shortly after those structures develop, leaving only fruits and turions, which survive the summer. No one has observed any seed germination, but the turions (referred to as dormant apices) germinate in late summer or fall, and the plants overwinter as small plants only a few cm centimeters in size, even under the ice in northern climates (R. L. Stuckey et al. 1978). Growth then continues as the water begins warming in the spring.
One hybrid, Potamogeton crispus ´ P. praelongus (= P. ´ undulatus Wolfgang ex Schultes & Schultes f.), has been described."
Literature:
» Sastroutomo, S. S. 1981. Turion formation, dormancy and germination of curly pondweed, Potamogeton crispus L. Aquatic Bot. 10: 161--173.
Stuckey, R. L. 1979. Distributional history of Potamogeton crispus (curly pondweed) in North America. Bartonia 46: 22--42.
Stuckey, R. L., J. R. Wehrmeister, and R. J. Bartolotta. 1978. Submersed aquatic vascular plants in ice-covered ponds of central Ohio. Rhodora 80: 203--208.
One hybrid, Potamogeton crispus ´ P. praelongus (= P. ´ undulatus Wolfgang ex Schultes & Schultes f.), has been described.
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Photo © Richard Old
(from WTU Image Collection)
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