176 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



as P. robbinsii, as it stands erect and is usually seen only at an 

 angle. It is quite fragile and easily torn and tattered by handling. 

 It remains green all winter. 



22. LONG-LEAVED PONDWEED; RIVER PONDWEED 



POTAMOGETON AMERICANUS Chamisso & Schlechtendahl 



This potamogeton is one of the shallow-water species, rarely 

 or never growing in water more than 10 feet deep. It is rather 

 common in the lake, growing in small scattered patches not far 

 from shore. It has flat, leathery, floating leaves which very closely 

 resemble those of P. natans except that they are more acute. The 

 submerged leaves are thinner, and long and narrow. Patches were 

 observed north of the Barnes cottage not far from shore, near Long 

 Point, and in Outlet Bay. A healthy patch grows in the bottom 

 of the Outlet where it joins with the lake, extending on both sides 

 of the wagon bridge. Here the swift rushing current kept the 

 leaves in a constant tension and flapping like a flag on a windy day, 

 and the plant took on a peculiar form. There were no floating 

 leaves and the submersed leaves were exceedingly long and at- 

 tenuate as if drawn out by the stress of the passing current. A 

 patch was noted 2 miles down the outlet below Lost Lake, the 

 plants being long and slender without many leaves. It grows in 

 Tippecanoe and Yellow rivers and is the form most frequently 

 found in rivers. 



P. americanus frequently grows on wet sandbanks at the water's 

 edge wholly out of the water. In this case it is much changed in 

 appearance, being short and leafy and all the leaves of a firm leath- 

 ery texture, much in substance like the floating leaves of the aquatic 

 plant, but flrmer. Proceeding from the deeper water plants out- 

 ward, it is the flrst of the many plants encountered which are 

 characteristic of the shore line regions. It has two pretty well 

 marked forms, one for the water and one for the land, although 

 the habit of having 2 sorts of leaves, one submersed and the other 

 emersed, is a step in this direction. 



23. SHINING PONDWEED 



POTAMOGETON LUCENS Linnseus 



Widely scattered in small patches through the lake in shallow 

 water growing at a depth of from 6 to 8 feet, and usually mixed in 

 with other pondweeds such as P. amplifolius and the like. It 

 usually grows in rather small patches of only a few plants each. 

 There is, however, a fairly large patch of about 500 feet directly 



