Prototype quillwort (Isoetes prototypus) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 9

Special Significance of the Species

Brunton (pers. com. 2002 and 2004) considers this species to be a very primitive Isoetes species “of ancient origins”, “a living fossil” that is morphologically “as simple as it gets” and “dramatically different from all other members of its 'stable' genus”, with “nothing else like it in the world”.  He thinks it is likely the rarest Isoetes species in North America, and the most globally significant aquatic plant in Canada, an Acadian endemic with an incredibly narrow geographic range and an extremely sensitive habitat.  Since this species does have a very restricted range and 92% of its known sites occur in Canada, it is important that all populations of this species remain viable and extant.

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