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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: curly pondweed
Synonyms and Other Names: Curlyleaf pondweed; curly-leaved or crispy-leaved pondweed
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: This is the only species of pondweeds in North America with serrate leaves and consequently it is easily recognized.Curly pondweed gets its name from the wavy margins on the sides of its leaves. Leaves are dark green with a reddish hue and have small teeth along the margins. Plants may grow up to 2 meters long. Rhizomes absent. Cauline stems flattened, without spots, to 100 cm; nodal glands absent. Turions common, axillary or terminal, 1.5--3 ´ ca. 2 cm, hard; leaves ± 2-ranked; outer leaves 1--4 per side, base not corrugate, apex rounded; inner leaves rolled into linear, terete structure, oriented parallel to outer leaves. Leaves submersed, ± spirally arranged, sessile, lax; stipules persistent to deliquescent, inconspicuous, convolute, free from blade, brownish, not ligulate, to 0.5 cm, not fibrous, not shredding at tip, apex obtuse; blade light to dark green, linear, not arcuate, 1.2--9 cm ´ 4--10 mm, base obtuse to rounded, without basal lobes, not clasping to nearly clasping, margins conspicuously serrate, not crispate, apex not hoodlike, round to round-acute, lacunae in 2--5 rows each side of midrib; veins 3--5. Inflorescences unbranched, emersed; peduncles not dimorphic, terminal or rarely axillary, erect to ascending, cylindric, 2.5--4 cm; spikes not dimorphic, cylindric, 10--15 mm. Fruits sessile, red to reddish brown, obovoid, turgid to slightly concave, not abaxially or laterally keeled, 6 ´ 2.5 mm; beak apically recurved, 2--3 mm; sides without basal tubercles; embryo with 1 full spiral. 2n = 52 (Europe).
Size: up to 2 meters in length
Native Range:
Eurasia, Africa, and Australia (Global Compendium of Weeds).
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences:
Curly pondweed, Potamogeton crispus L., was introduced into the United States in the mid 1800’s (Stuckey 1979). The earliest collection of the plant was recorded in 1841-1842 in Philadelphia with distribution limited to the northeastern portion of the United States and a small portion of California prior to 1900. Curly leaf pondweed encompassed the United States and most of Canada by 1978.
Great Lakes:1st Great Lakes sighting 1879 Lake Ontario drainage; spread to the Western Great Lakes region after 1900 and by 1930, was found in several states of the Great Lakes region. It was found across most of the Great Lakes Basin by 1978. Is now established in numerous locations throughout the Great Lakes basin: IL, IN, MI, MI, NY, OH, PA, & WI
Other US: Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Conn., Del., D.C., D.C., Fla., Ga., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mo., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.C., Okla., Oreg., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wyo. In North Dakota, curly leaf pondweed has been reported from the lower reaches of Lake Sakakawea, Lake Audubon and a nearby canal (McClusky Canal), the Missouri River below the Garrison Dam and the McDowell Dam in Burleigh county.
Canada: Alta., B.C., Ont., Que., Sask.; No specimens have been seen from New Brunswick, but the species is to be expected there.
Ecology:
Flowering spring--summer. Quiet waters, especially brackish, alkaline, or eutrophic waters of ponds, lakes, and streams; typically <3m, maximum depth 12m. May spread by re-rooting of small plant fragments.
Life history of Potamogeton crispus is unusual as it flowers and fruits in late spring and early summer, at which time it also produces turions. The plants decay shortly after those structures develop, leaving only fruits and turions, which survive the summer. No one has observed any seed germination, but the turions (referred to as dormant apices) germinate in late summer or fall, and the plants overwinter as small plants only a few cm centimeters in size, even under the ice in northern climates (R. L. Stuckey et al. 1978). Growth then continues as the water begins warming in the spring.
Curly leaf pondweed is important in spring as a provider of cover for small aquatic animals which serve as food for migrating waterfowl and as a spawning substrate for fish because it is one of the most abundant macrophytes from April to June.
Means of Introduction: The species has since spread across much of the United States, presumably by migrating waterfowl, intentional planting for waterfowl and wildlife habitat, and possibly even as a contaminant in water used to transport fishes and fish eggs to hatcheries (Stuckey 1979). According to Crowell (UNDATED), P. crispus can also spread by plant fragments attached to boats and equipment that are not properly cleaned.
Status: Established in all of the continental United States except Maine and South Carolina (USDA-NRCS 2002) and Ontario in Canada (CWS, 2003); New Zealand (NIWA, 2004).
Impact of Introduction:
This species sometimes becomes a pest in waterways, lakes and reservoirs (Guard 1995). The Eurasian pondweed competes with native plantlife and sometimes displaces the native plantlife. Dense colonies of curly pondweed can restrict access to docks and sport fishing areas during spring and early summer months. It may interfer with late spring and early summer recreation due to the formation of dense mats and an increase in phosphorus concentrations causing an increase in algae blooms and a pile up of dying P. crispus along the shore, both due to its mid-summer die back.
According to USDA-NRCS (2002), P. crispus tends to increase oxygen levels at day-time and produce substantial organic material in aquatic environments. This pondweed shelters small fish and aquatic insects that provide food for larger fish and amphibians. It is a fast growing plant in need of constant checking to make sure it does not overrun ponds, pools or canals. Because populations of curly pondweed usually decline during the summer months, it does not directly compete with many of the native submersed species.Curly-leaf pondweed is considered a nuisance by many, but has received very little attention after the accidental introduction of Eurasian watermilfoil and other invasive species.
Remarks: One hybrid, Potamogeton crispus x. P. praelongus (= P. undulatus Wolfgang ex Schultes & Schultes f.), has been described.
References
Brickell, C. 1990. The RHS gardener’s encyclopedia of plants and flowers. Dorling Kindersley, London.
Britton, N.L. & A. Brown 1970. An illustrated flora of the Northern United States and Canada. Dover Publications, New York, New York.
Catlin, P. M. and I. Dobson. 1985. The biology of Canadian weeds. 69. Potamogeton crispus L. Can. J. Plant Sci. 65:655-668.
Crowell, W. UNDATED. Curly Pondweed: New Management Ideas for an Old Problem Exotic Species Program, Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota, United States.
Cypert, E. 1967. The curly-leaved pondweed problem at Reelfoot Lake. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 42:10-11.
Flora of North America. 2008. www.eFloras.org Great Plains Flora Association. 1986. Flora of the Great Plains. Lawrence, KS: Univ. Press of Kansas. 1392 pp.
Guard, J.B. 1995. Wetland plants of Oregon and Washington. Lone Pine Publishing, Redmond, Washington.
Nichols, S. A. and B. H. Shaw. 1986. Ecological life histories of the three aquatic nuisance plants, Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton crispus, and Elodea canadensis. Hydrobiologia 131: 3-21.
Radford, A.E., H.E. Ahles, & C. Bell 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Sastroutomo, S. S. 1981. Turion formation, dormancy and germination of curly pondweed, Potamogeton crispus L. Aquatic Botany 10: 161-173.
Schmidt, J. C. and J. R. Kannenberg. 1998. How to identify and control water weeds and algae 5th Ed. Applied Biochemists, Milwaukee, WI 53218. 129 pp.
Steyermark, J.A. 1963. Flora of Missouri. The Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.
Stuckey, R. L. 1979. Distributional history of Potamogeton crispus (curly pondweed) in North America. Bartonia 46: 22-42.
Tiner, R.W., Jr. 1987. A field guide to the coastal wetland plants of the northeastern United States. The University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, Massachusetts.
Tobiessen, P. and P. D. Snow. 1984. Temperature and light effects on the growth of Potamogeton crispus in Collins Lake, New York State. Canadian Journal of Botany 62: 2822-2826.
Wehrmeister, J. R. and R. L. Stuckey. 1992. Life history of Potamogeton crispus. Michigan Botanist. 31(1):3-16.
Other Resources:
Global Invasive Species Database: compiled by National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) & IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=447&fr=1&sts=sss
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/curlyleaf_pondweed.htm
WI DNR - Curly-leaf pondweed presence by county and distribution map
NOAA Sea Grant Nonindigenous Species Site (SGNIS)
A Field Guide to VALUABLE UNDERWATER AQUATIC PLANTS of the Great Lakes by Donald W. Schloesser
Author: Ling Cao
Contributing Agencies: 
NOAA - GLERL
Revision Date: 6/12/2008 Citation for this information:
Ling Cao. 2009. Potamogeton crispus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1134> Revision Date: 6/12/2008
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