The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Isoëtes melanospora
Also called Blackspore quillwort, Black Spored Quillwort, Black Spore Quillwort, Blackspored Quillwort
Isoetes melanospora is a rare, federally endangered quillwort that grows in shallow, seasonal pools on granite outcrops in Georgia and South Carolina. It needs wet winters and springs with a dry summer, and it is not a plant for ordinary garden or houseplant cultivation.
Isoetes melanospora, commonly known as black-spored quillwort or black-spored Merlin's grass, is a rare and endangered aquatic lycophyte endemic to the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina.
It grows exclusively in shallow, temporary pools on granite outcrops, often with only 2 cm of soil. 11 populations are known to exist in Georgia, while only one has been recorded in South Carolina, though this population is believed to be extirpated. The number of sites has dropped from 18 following its discovery due to habitat destruction caused by quarrying, trash dumping and trampling. New leaves quickly sprout after fall and winter rains, but during the dry summer months these typically shrivel.
Isoetes acadiensis · Isoetes alpina · Appalachian Quillwort · Isoetes araucaniana · Isoetes australis · Isoetes bolanderi · Isoetes brevicula · Isoetes butleri · Isoetes capensis · Isoetes caroliniana · Isoetes × eatonii · Isoetes echinospora
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Isoetes melanospora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
