[kwil-wurt, -wawrt] 
| any fernlike, aquatic marsh plant of the genus Isoëtes, characterized by clustered, quill-like leaves bearing sporangia in their bases. |
| quill·wort (kwĭl'wûrt', -wôrt') n. Any of several vascular, spore-bearing, aquatic or marsh plants of the genus Isoetes having short rhizomes and quill-like leaves. |
quillwort
any of about 150 species of plants in the family Isoetaceae, order Isoetales. Quillworts are spore-bearing lycophytes with grassy, spikelike leaves and are native mostly to swampy, cooler parts of North America and Eurasia. The spirally arranged, quill-like leaves are divided into vertical rows of cavities that are connected to one central conducting strand. The leaves rise from a cormlike or tuberlike base, with roots below. A large, saclike, round-to-oblong sporangium is sunk into a pit on the inner surface of each leaf base, where a small, thin structure known as a ligule also occurs. Most quillworts grow submerged in water all or part of the year. The terrestrial species tend to grow in seasonally wet habitats, and the plants die back to the corm when the soil dries
Learn more about quillwort with a free trial on Britannica.com.
