The other day I was paddling on Portage Lake (from Coldbrook County Park) and I noticed these spiral stems on many submerged water lilies. At the time, I thought they were new blossoms and I wondered why they grew from a corkscrew stem. A little web surfing showed me I had been wrong in assuming they were new buds. Apparently White Water Lilies (Nymphaea odorata) emerge on straight stems but after pollination the stems twist into a spiral pulling the flower underwater where the seeds mature.
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