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Isoëtes stephanseniae
Also called Victory Quillwort
Isoetes stephanseniae, the granite quillwort, is a species of quillwort from South Africa, named for A. J. Stephansen, who discovered it in 1927. Of very limited distribution, it is known to survive only as one population in seasonal pools over granite near Stellenbosch, where it is threatened by the encroachment of alien species and eutrophication from the sewage works on whose grounds it grows. Like other quillworts, it bears a tuft of leaves with distinctively sculpted megaspores. It is most similar to Isoetes capensis, the cape quillwort, which occurs in the same province; both hold their leaves at a 45-degree angle, unlike most South African quillworts which have leaves stiffly erect.
The granite quillwort is endemic to the Stellenbosch area of the Western Cape of South Africa. The Stellenbosch Flats, where it occurs on seasonally wet ground, have been very much urbanized since its discovery. Of the two populations known, one was destroyed by the expansion of Stellenbosch University; the remaining one is protected on the grounds of the local sewerage works. It grows in vernal pools over granite and in the surrounding marshy grassland.
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 stephanseniae by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
