It could have been a plant from another planet – an alien invader.  

With a name like American featherfoil, this species is definitely earthbound (more specifically, water-bound) and continental, though its appearance has one imagining visitors from another world.    

And what a sight to behold — if you are lucky enough to find one. A recent sighting in Chilmark was a feather in the cap of its finder, whose report was one of the very few observations of this elusive aquatic plant in recent history.  

“Here today and gone tomorrow” describes its habit of emerging and then vanishing. Featherfoil is biennial, having a two-year or more life cycle, and its habitat needs and partner species result in its disappearing and reappearing act.  

Featherfoil finds its groove in freshwater wetlands that are stable and shallow. On-Island those habitats included coastal ponds, vernal pools and even wet ditches. Off-Island, it thrives with the help of beavers that construct dams and create very suitable places for its survival. People are involved in the management (and mismanagement) of wetlands and can encourage or discourage its presence through our own activities. 

Its life cycle further explains its David Copperfield-like nature. Appearing to float, featherfoil is actually rooted into the mud. Hollow tubular stems assist in keeping much of the plant above water and also protects its flowers, seeds and fruits from immersion before it is ready.

After seeds are released, the water becomes featherfoil’s natal home as the mucous-covered morsels initially float, moving away from their parent plant. As floaters, these sticky seeds can be picked up by waterfowl, especially wood ducks and mallards, that will move them to other locations on their feathers. However, if these ducks consume those seeds, germination isn’t possible after moving through the duck’s digestive system. A small price to pay for the free transportation of the other luckier seed hitchhikers.  

Seeds, transported or not, eventually sink and germinate in the fall. They push up feathery leaves that persist through the winter before the plant resumes growth and eventually blooms in late spring and early summer. Because conditions must be just right for this picky plant — including high temperatures to interrupt dormancy — plants can lie latent and pop up periodically and in different places.    

It is even possible to spread featherfoil vegetatively by breaking off and becoming a new plant. So, seeds be damned — if seeds are stopped by dams.

The scientific name Hottonia inflata describes its floating condition. The prefix Hottonia was a corruption of the name of late seventeenth-century Dutch botanist Petrus Houttuyn. Other aliases for this far-out flora include water violet, water feather and water yarrow. Only two species are included in the genus: one in our backyard and the other, across the Atlantic, in Europe.  

The range of this plant goes as far as Maine yet it is uncommon at these northern areas. In Massachusetts, featherfoil is on the state’s “Watch List.” The Watch List identifies species that are of suspected conservation concern because of being “rare, declining, or vulnerable.”  

I won’t ruffle feathers by sharing the location of this plant, and will encourage folks to keep looking for it as we know it could pop up at a nearby pond any time. Don’t be overwhelmed if you see this truly extra-terrestrial aquatic adventurer, but do be properly appreciative its elusive and emergent nature. 

Suzan Bellincampi is Islands director for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown and the Nantucket Wildlife Sanctuaries. She is also the author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.