Rick spoke briefly about flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) in Monday's lecture - it's the species that was being compared with purple loosestrife. Both are typically emergent wetland plants - growing surrounded by water but rooted in the substrate. Flowering rush is a monocot in its own family, the Butomaceae. Like purple loosestrife, it is on the Massachusetts list of banned invasive plants.
Perhaps not coincidentally, it has also been the subject of an evolutionary study similar to the reed canary grass paper we will be discussing in class Wednesday. This is absolutely not required reading, but for those of you who are interested, here is the citation:
Brown and Eckert. 2005. "Evolutionary increase in sexual and clonal reproductive capacity during biological invasion in an aquatic plant Butomus umbellatus (Butomaceae)." American Journal of Botany. 92: 495-502.
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