Sunday 19 May
Pillwort (Pilularia globulifera)
NEARTHREATENED
Pillwort fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Pillwort description
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Polypodiophyta |
| Class | Polypodiopsida |
| Order | Marsileales |
| Family | Marsileaceae |
| Genus | Pilularia (1) |
Pillwort (Pilularia globulifera) is a rather curious member of the fern family. Its leaves resemble green hair, and arise singly from a creeping stem, or rhizome giving it the appearance of a rather untidy green wig. When young, these hair-like leaves are curled at their extreme tips. On the rhizome there is a hard pill-like swelling, giving this plant its common English name.
- Size
- Stem length: up to 15 cm
Pillwort biology
Pillwort is a true fern and reproduces by spores, which are found in 'sporocarps', hard capsules that may remain viable for many years, but which open when swollen with water to release megaspores, fertilized by the microspores, which are also released.
TopPillwort range
Pillwort is declining throughout the whole of its western European range. A substantial percentage of the world population is found in Britain. It used to occur in about 250 ten km squares but, since 1970, it has been seen in only 90 of these. The UK population is widely scattered, but there are still some substantial populations and several stronghold areas.
More »
Species with a similar range
|
You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Pillwort habitat
Pillwort is a plant of pond and lake edges, where it is sometimes submerged. It prefers neutral or slightly acid, sedimentary-type soils that have been subject to some disturbance. Its former distribution depended on land-use creating suitable habitats. These include, including millponds and cattle ponds. Recently it has started taking over old sand pits where it grows in shallow water.
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Pillwort status
Pillwort is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List (1).
Pillwort threats
The greatest threat to the future of this intriguing plant is the excessive use of herbicides and run-off from nitrate and phosphate fertilisers polluting the water bodies where pillwort grows. Another danger comes from the changing use of ponds and lakes and the loss of the regular disturbance that the plant requires.
There is also the problem of an invasive escape from domestic ponds and garden centres, Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii), which in some places has swamped pillwort and many other native pond species wherever it appears.
TopPillwort conservation
Pillwort is listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plans and included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. In a survey of threatened British wetland plants commissioned by the plant conservation charity, Plantlife, pillwort communities were examined at four European sites, all in the Sologne region of France. The study revealed that pillwort can survive under at least two different environmental conditions; one on lake edges where the action of waves maintains an open community, and another where regular disturbance results in temporary populations. The report recommended further study into the differing conditions exploited by the plant.
Pillwort, it seems, can be a good early coloniser of suitable habitats, but usually only where there have been historical records of its presence. For proper conservation priorities to be prepared for this species, a full report of its status in Europe is required.
|
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan for this species is available at UK BAP. |
|
|
There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Authentication
Information supplied by English Nature.
http://www.english-nature.org.uk
Glossary
- Colonise
- Establish a colony (group of organisms living together).
References
-
IUCN Red List (June, 2011)
http://www.iucnredlist.org/
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Saturday 18 May
Friday 17 May
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Pillwort
© Bob Gibbons / www.ardea.com
Ardea wildlife pets environment
35 Brodrick Road
Wandsworth Common
London
SW17 7DX
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 208 672 2067
Fax: +44 (0) 208 672 8787
ardea@ardea.co.uk
http://www.ardea.com
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.