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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE ARROW-GRASS FAMILY | |||||||||
| Plants in the arrow-grass family are perennial or annual herbs. Many of the species in this family grow in or near the water from rhizomes. The stems are absent and all the leaves are basal. The leaves have membranous ear-like lobes at the base and linear, grass-like blades. The inflorescences are at the end of a long stalk, called a scape, or in the axils of the leaves. The flowers can have male and female parts, or only male or female parts. If the flowers have only male or only female parts, the male and female flowers are found on the same plant. The flowers usually have one or six tepals, but sometimes the tepals are absent. The fruit is a nutlet or a dry fruit that splits into single-seeded segments. | |||||||||
| FLOWERING QUILLWORT | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Lilaea scilloides | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Flowering quillwort grows as tall as 30 cm from short, slender rhizomes. The leaves are all basal and can be up to 35 cm long and 3 mm wide. The leaves are round in cross section and are filled with large air spaces. There are two types of inflorescences in this species. The first is a long-stalked, spike-like cluster of flowers. These clusters have female flowers at the base, bisexual flowers in the middle, and male flowers at the top. The second type of inflorescence is a solitary, sessile female flower. The flowers may or may not have tepals. The male and bisexual flowers have 1 stamen without a filament. The female and bisexual flowers have one style and stigma. The fruit is a beaked nutlet. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Flowering quillwort grows in sloughs and mudflats. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southern Saskatchewan in the Cypress Uplands, Mixed Grassland, Moist Mixed Grassland, and Boreal Transition ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Flowering quillwort is endangered in Saskatchewan because there are few known locations of this species and the populations tend to be small and separated from one another. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY FLOWERING QUILLWORT | |||||||||
| * Are there two kinds of inflorescences? * Are the flowers small and greenish? * Do the female flowers only have one style and stigma? * Did you find it in a slough or mudflat in southern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found flowering quillwort! | |||||||||
