Pipeworts
What are they?
Pipeworts are a rather unusual group of water plants that carry button-like clusters of small flowers atop rush-like stems.
Where are they found?
Members of this family are typically found in marshy ground and often growing in permanent freshwater areas such as lakes and ponds on acid soils.
Identification
The species are rather similar and attention should be paid to the presence or absence of basal leaves, and the size and shape of the flower head and any bracts at the base of the flower head.
Flattened Pipewort Eriocaulon compressum
Occasional in more or less permanent standing water in bogs and pools on acid soil. Flowers May to July. Told from other pipeworts by the leaves being shorter than the basal sheaths and the stems 10- to 12-angled.
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Common Pipewort Eriocaulon aquaticum
(Seven-angled Pipewort) Occasional in more or less permanent standing water in bogs and pools on acid soil. Flowers late June to August. Leaves have obvious cross-veining and are translucent. Stems five- to seven-angled.
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