HeyPK

For a pictoral record of the trip that Steve and I took, with commentary, go to the following url: http://users.ev1.net/~spituch/a.html

Scroll down to the "Expedition I" link, and click on that. Before looking at all the pictures, click on the map link to the left on the first page.

We found the following species at the put-in:
Hydrilla verticillata, Hygrophila polysperma, Potamogeton sp?, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Ceratophyllum demersum, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Sagittaria sp. (platyphylla?), Ludwigia repens or palustris?, Pista stratiodes, Eichornia crassipes.

After the second railroad crossing, we found a Cambomba sp (caroliniana?). Below the first dam a water cress, Nuphar lutea, and Riccia showed up. Below the third dam (lunch stop), we found Zosterella dubia. Finally, the C. beckettii? showed up just past the point where the sewage treatment plant emptied the treated water into the river. We were careful not to dislodge any crypts when we gathered our sample. In the summer, the river fills up with tubers (people floating down on inner tubes), and they no doubt loosen some crypts and contribute to the spread of the species. Large patches of crypts continued to be seen until the river became too deep due to the back-up from the Cummings dam to see the bottom. On the faces of some of the dams we found Samolus valerandi and what might be Lobelia cardinalis.

So, don't say you can't find aquatic plants in Texas!

MiamiAG

Excellent work guys! And obviously a lot of fun. We need to do the same thing in Florida.

Steve Hampton

Spectacular work, thank you for taking the time to photograph and document the trip.

cactusdoug

Wow, thanx for the pics.

It looks like you guy's had a wonderful experience.

I'm jealous, we don't have any thing like that here in the desert.

Are any of these plants you collected going to be available for purchase?

If so PLEASE put me on your list.

I'm starting to wonder if there is any place here in So Cal,
maybe San Diego or Orange Counties,
where one could gather some plants like you guy's did.

Might be worth a day trip.

Cheers, Cactusdoug

Phil Edwards

That's awesome guys! Thank you for taking such careful pictures of everything. You found some really neat looking stuff. I expect you to take 1st place in the AGA biotope div. this year Steve!

Bert H

Great pics, thanks for sharing. If you decide you have an extra crypt or 2 there, I would love to get one .

Steve Pituch

Hey Guys,

How about everyone who wants a plant to send me an email at spituch@ev1.net, with your address and private email address. Make the Subject of the email "san marcos plants".

All the plants have been bleached and will be growing out for quite a while. Once the plants reach critical mass we can start sending some out, but it will be a whlie. We also need to learn how to grow each of the plants. I want to temporarily use some of the plants in a biotope also.

But we should be able to make all of you happy eventually. Please be patient.

Regards,
Steve Pituch

oh-yeah

I see but I can hardly believe. All the plant finds are interesting but the crypts are like I say unbelievable. I would love to know how cold it gets in winter and other details of environment. Spectacular!!! Jack

Steve Pituch

Amazingly, the river is spring fed with warm water. The water just pops out of the ground in the middle of the town. So this area of the river is 72 degF all year long. Sort of like a Sri Lanka in the middle of Texas.

Steve Pituch

jread

Absolutely amazing! I've been digging around the San Marcos River multiple times and had no idea there were crypts in there!!