Lagarosiphon major - Curly waterweed
Location: Dunham Massey National Trust/ Manchester. It can grow in a depth of 6.5m but can only manage 1m in gloomy water, this means that it prefers to grow in full sunny conditions. It grows as a single rhizome anchored to the ground. The semi evergreen aquatic perennial is an excellent water oxygenator that can be used for the sole purpose of phytoremediation.
L. major grows best in clear still/slow moving water.
Here we can see that the canal has been poorly maintained and L. major has colonised most of the space in the water, unless it has been deliberately planted to decontaminate the water.
Why is it called 'Curly' Waterweed? It gets its name from the inward curling foliage as seen above.
