Coontail in Wisconsin
As of September 2026: Coontail is a native aquatic plant regulated under Wis. Admin. Code NR 109. This page summarizes current DNR guidance.
Coontail is one of the most common plants in Wisconsin lakes, and it's also one of the most commonly misidentified. From a boat or a dock, its bushy, dark-green whorls can look enough like invasive milfoil that people pull it thinking they're clearing an invasive, when they're actually removing a protected native plant.
How to identify it
Coontail
nativeCeratophyllum demersum
- Dark green, stiff, bushy leaves in whorls of up to 12
- Each leaf forked with small teeth, rough to the touch
- No roots; floats or anchors loosely in soft bottom
Protected native. Removal beyond the 30-foot exempt corridor needs an NR 109 permit.
Identification only. Permit rules are on the DNR permit page.
Eurasian watermilfoil
invasiveMyriophyllum spicatum
- Feathery leaves in whorls of 4 around the stem
- Each leaflet divided into 12 or more pairs of thin segments
- Stem runs 3 to 10 feet, often reddish and limp out of water
Restricted invasive. Hand removal is permit-exempt statewide; chemical treatment needs an NR 107 permit.
Identification only. Permit rules are on the DNR permit page.
The tell is the leaf shape. Coontail's leaves are forked, stiff, and rough to the touch, with small teeth along the edge, growing in dense whorls of up to 12. Eurasian watermilfoil's leaves are feathery, divided into many thin, soft segments, and grow in whorls of 4. Coontail also has no true roots; it floats freely or anchors loosely in soft bottom, rather than being firmly rooted like milfoil.
Why the confusion matters
Wisconsin's removal rules hinge entirely on whether a plant is native or invasive. Confirmed invasive species like Eurasian watermilfoil can be hand-removed statewide with no permit. Native plants, coontail included, are capped to a 30-foot no-permit corridor at your pier or swim area. Pulling coontail believing it's milfoil doesn't change which rule applies; removing a native plant beyond the exemption is still a violation, even when the mistake was well-intentioned.
What you can do with coontail
Inside a single 30-foot corridor centered on your pier, lift, and swim area, hand-pulling, string trimming, or a push mower on exposed lakebed all fall under the manual removal exemption in NR 109.06(2)(a)1. Because coontail has no anchoring roots, it often comes up more easily than a rooted plant, but it also detaches and drifts more readily, so a partial pull can leave fragments that settle somewhere else on your shoreline.
Beyond that corridor, or with mechanical equipment, removing coontail needs an NR 109 permit the same as any other native plant. See the step-by-step exemption rules before you plan a larger removal.
Confirm before you pull
If you're not confident telling coontail apart from an invasive milfoil, treat what you find as native until you've confirmed otherwise. See why the DNR treats native and invasive plants differently and the full plate set on the identification page.