Bissonette Pond is a 48.5-acre lake in Willington, CT. It is sparsely settled, and almost all houses on the lake have buffer zones near the water.
Our August 2006 survey found 20 species of plants and no invasive species. The most abundant plant is watershield (Brasenia schreberi), a plant with floating leaves which was abundant in most inlets. The other floating-leaved species, yellow water lily (Nuphar variegata) and white water lily (Nymphaea odorata), were found in much smaller patches intermingled with the watershield.
Flat-Leaf bladderwort (Utricularia intermedia), humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba), common bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza), large-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton amplifolius), floating-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton natans), and charaphyte (Chara) were found growing together in patches along edge of the lake. Similarly, small pondweed (Potamogeton pusillus), floating bladderwort (Utricularia radiata), and ribbon-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton epihydrus) coexisted in several shallow areas. The shoreline of the pond is host to long patches of American bur-reed (Sparganium americanum) which is joined in one area on the eastern shore by sedges.
Needle spikerush (Eleocharis acicularis) occurred with a large patch of humped bladderwort on the end of an outcropping on the western shore. Likewise clasping-leaf pondweed (Potamogeton perfoliatus) was only found once, in a small patch on the southern shore. A small patch of sevenangle pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum) is located in the southern-most cove.