Botanical art
Common names
Bilobed Plain Quillwort
Quillwort
Etymology
Isoetes from the Greek 'isos' meaning alike and 'etos' meaning year; referring to the submerged species remaining evergreen throughout the year. Drummondii named after James Drummond (1786-1863), a Scottish born botanist and naturalist who was the curator of the government gardens in Cork, Ireland and an early settler in Western Australia. Anomala from the Greek 'anomalus' meaning uneven, irregular; referring to the irregular shape of the megaspores.
Distribution and status
Found in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and the lower South-east in South Australia, growing in in wet depressions subject to flooding in winter and spring months. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia, possibly gone from the Mount Lofty Ranges. Rare in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Southern Lofty, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Small freshwater aquatic or semi-aquatic herb with bilobe corm embedded in the soil. Leaves are tufted at the top of the stem, erect or spreading, to 20 cm long, narrowly cylindrical and tapering with the bases abruptly wider, flattened, overlapping and spoon-shaped with lateral margins having paler, papery wings. Spore structures (sporangia), globular, sac-like and found in the hollowed leaf bases. Megaspores are found in the outer leaves, irregularly shaped, globular or flattened, white and tuberculate. Microspores absent. This species differ from the other subspecies found in South Australia, Isoetes drummondii ssp. drummondii which has trilobe corm, regularly shaped megaspores (globular) and numerous microspore forming dark powdery mass. Fruits are megaspores found in the hollow leaf base. Seeds are white megaspores.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between August and November. Check to seed if the plant has any spores by pulling a leaf out of the ground from the base and looking inside the fat, hollow leaf base for a sack of white globular or flattened megaspores. If present, pull off a few of the leaves and place in a seal paper bags to prevent spores from fulling out. Leave the spores in the paper bag to dry. Then remove the leaf covering carefully to expose the spore sack. Store the spores in an air tight container in a cool and dry place or in a -20oC freezer.