Eurasian watermilfoil

Differentiation

Differentiate watermilfoils

Image	Common Name	Latin Name	Pairs of leaflets per leaf	Leaf length	Stem	Out of water	In water	Flowers and fruit	Winter buds?
	Eurasian watermilfoil (aka Spiked watermilfoil )	Myriophyllum spicatum	12 to 26	< 3.5 cm	white to red	limp	many branches near surface (can form mats)	5 – 20 cm spike above water, flowers pink or white	no
	Northern watermilfoil (aka Siberian Watermilfoil)	Myriophyllum sibiricum	5 to 12	1 to 5 cm	white to pale green	holds shape	branches lower, little surface vegetation	4 – 15 cm spike above water, flowers pink	yes
	Alternate watermilfoil	Myriophyllum alterniflorum	3 to 10	< 1 cm	pale green to bright red	holds some shape	many branches	5 cm or shorter spike above water, red flowers	yes
	Whorled watermilfoil	Myriophyllum verticillatum	5 to 17	< 4 cm	green to brown	holds shape	little branching, mostly single stems up to 25 cm spike above water, flowers yellow/white/pink	yes

Abatement

• Scot Paltrow: "Ontario law allows lakeside property owners to take steps to control milfoil and other invasive plants close to their shorelines. Effective measures (purchasing mats, underwater hand pulling), however, are difficult and expensive. Affected property owners at other lakes have used rakes to clear away mats to make swimming and boating possible, but this does nothing to prevent regrowth the following season, and breaks off plant pieces that can take hold in other areas."
• Remove invasive aquatic plants (ontario.ca)
  • Land owners may remove invasives in front of their property if they follow certain rules.
  • Permits from other organizations, such as Fisheries and Oceans Canada may be necessary.
• Removing Eurasian watermilfoil (steenburglake.ca)
• Eurasian Water Milfoil(Myriophyllum spicatum) Best Management Practices in Ontario (ontarioinvasiveplants.ca) Similar to the steenburglake.ca source

External links

• Eurasian watermilfoil (Temagami Lakes Association)

Further Reading

In Chronological Order

• Myriophyllum spicatum (Wikipedia)
• ProcellaCOR (Wikipedia)
• "A technique to monitor growth and spread of early-stage variable-leaf watermilfoil in a shallow impoundment," Noah Bohl, Michael R. Twiss, Diana T. White, November 2025, Limnologica, volume 115.
• "This lake association successfully eradicated invasive Eurasian watermilfoil. Here’s how they did it," Penny Caldwell, Cottage Life, August 6, 2025.
• "When fighting invasive aquatic plants, choose your battles," Claude Lavoie, The Conversation, July 31, 2024
• "Efficient and rapid control of Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) by combining benthic mats and hand pulling," Vincent Gagné and Claude Lavoie, Cambridge University Press, October 20, 2023.
• "Myriophyll: An Underwater Battle," Claude Labbé, Pier Gagné, January 16, 2021, from the CBC article.
• "Clogging the Lakes: Eurasian watermilfoil," thelandbetween.ca, 2020
• "Eurasian Water-Milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) Best Management Practices in Ontario," Ontario Invasive Plants Council, 2020.
• "Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum): Ecological Risk Screening Summary," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2015, revised April 2018.
• "Eurasian watermilfoil and a Needle in a Haystack," Ann Bove, Vermont Invasives, August 24, 2015.
• "Biology of Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)," Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI). Unknown date, last reference is from 2014, first archive on archive.org is from 2023.
• "Eurasian Milfoil: An Invasive Aquatic Plant," Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, November 2002.
• "Predicting Invasion Success of Eurasian watermilfoil," John D. Madsen, Journal of Aquatic Plant Management, January 1998, volume 36, pp. 28-32.
• "Physical control of Eurasian watermilfoil in an oligotrophic lake," Charles W. Boylen, Lawrence W. Eichler, James W. Sutherland, December 1996, Hydrobiologia, volume 340, pp. 213–218.
• "Ecology of Eurasian watermilfoil," Craig S. Smith, J. W. Barko, Journal of Aquatic Plant Management. 1990, volume 28, pages: 55-64.

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