Budding Pondweed / Center For Plant Conservation
Search / Plant Profile / Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus
Plant Profile

Budding Pondweed (Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus)

2/23/2018 Photo Credit: By N.L. Britton and A. Brown
  • Global Rank: T3 - Vulnerable
  • Legal Status: N/A
  • Family: Potamogetonaceae
  • State: CT, MA, ME, NH, QC, RI
  • Nature Serve ID: 151796
  • Lifeform: Forb/herb
  • Date Inducted in National Collection:
Description:

Potamogeton pusillis ssp. gemmiparus, also known as Potamogeton gemmiparus or budding pondweed, is an aquatic plant that grows completely submerged in lakes or slow-moving rivers. Budding pondweed has thread-like leaves that grow up to 2½ inches long. Flowers are formed on stalks and can be above or below the surface of the water. The fruit only contain a single seed and they are very small (less than 1/10th of an inch wide). Budding pond weed can be confused with Potamogeton pusillus and Potamogeton berchtoldii. Budding pondweed tends to have skinnier leaves than the two look-a-like species and it only have one leaf vein, whereas the other two have three or more leaf veins. (New England Wildflower Society, 2018; Wernerehl, 2015) Budding pondweed is only found in upper New England and Quebec, Canada. It is threatened by invasive aquatic species and the herbicides used to control them. As of 2000, is was considered vulnerable or critically imperiled in most of the states in which it occurs, as well as Quebec, and it is possibly extinct in New Hampshire. (NatureServe, 2018; New England Wildflower Society, 2018; USDA and NRCS, 2018; Wernerehl, 2015)

Where is Budding Pondweed (Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Budding Pondweed can be found in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Quebec, Rhode Island

Which CPC Partners conserve Budding Pondweed (Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus)?

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Be the first to post an update!

Be the first to post an update!

Nomenclature
Taxon Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus
Authority (J.W. Robbins) R.R. Haynes & Hellq.
Family Potamogetonaceae
CPC Number 44908
ITIS 566075
USDA POPUG4
Duration Perennial
Common Names small pondweed
Associated Scientific Names Potamogeton pusillus ssp. gemmiparus | Potamogeton berchtoldii subsp. gemmiparus | Potamogeton gemmiparus | Potamogeton pusillus var. gemmiparus
Distribution
State Rank
State State Rank
Connecticut S1
Massachusetts S3S4
Maine SU
New Hampshire SH
Quebec S1
Rhode Island S1
Ecological Relationships

Photos

Donate to CPC to Save this Species

CPC secures rare plants for future generations by coordinating on-the-ground conservation and training the next generation of plant conservation professionals. Donate today to help save rare plants from extinction.

Donate Today