Sparganium angustifolium Floating Bur-reed

A rhizomatous, aquatic perennial with long narrow floating leaves, up to 10mm wide (but usually less) and up to 2m or more long. It prefers oligotrophic waters, such as mountain tarns and peaty polls but will tolerate a small amount of eutrophication. The inflorescences have two or three male heads close together and sometimes united into one long male head, a similar number of more remote female heads and the lowest leafy bract is longer than the inflorescence. Flowers are wind pollinated and the fruits are dispersed in water. It overwinters as leafless rhizomes. It is a northern Boreal-Montane species which has a western and distinctly northern, upland distribution in Britain. It is locally common in suitable water bodies in mid and north Wales but is rare in Glamorgan where it is close to its British southern limit in West Glamorgan. There is a long standing population in Llyn Fach, Neath Port Talbot but it also appears occasionally in peaty pools in conifer plantations.

Native