thatch and maintain than roofs done with more conventional thatching material. More recently, the plant has been used in its dried form for insulation in eco-friendly houses and as a ground cover in permaculture gardens, once its salt layer washed off (ex: Friland, Danish eco-village). In the United States, eelgrass insulation was commercially marketed in the early 1900s as Cabot's Quilt by the Samuel Cabot Co of Boston. However, due to an outbreak of Labyrinthula zosterae which destroyed crops of eelgrass, combined with the collapse of the homebuilding industry due to the great depression, it went out of production and was replaced in new homes with fiberglass (introduced in the late 1930s). Some studies show promise for eelgrass meadows to sequester atmospheric carbon to reduce anthropogenic climate change. Zostera can also be utilized to produce biomass energy using the Jean Pain method. Species Accepted species Zostera angustifolia (Hornem.) Rchb. – Russian Far East, British Isles, Denmark, Sweden Zostera asiatica Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China Zostera caespitosa Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China Zostera capensis Setchell – Madagascar; Kenya to Cape Province Zostera capricorni Ascherson – New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand Zostera caulescens Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China Zostera chilensis (J. Kuo) S. W. L. Jacobs & D. H. Les – Chile Zostera japonica Ascherson & Graebner – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam Zostera marina L. – shores of North Pacific, North Atlantic, British Isles Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Okhotsk Zostera mucronata den Hartog – Australia Zostera muelleri Irmisch ex Ascherson – Australia Zostera nigricaulis (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia Zostera noltii Hornem. – shores of Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea Zostera novazelandica Setchell – New Zealand Zostera polychlamys (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia Zostera tasmanica Martens ex Ascherson – Australia References External links Flora Europaea: Zostera Flora of North America: Zostera Flora of China: Zostera species list Wasting disease of Zostera Historical Changes of Eelgrass in Buzzards Bay, MA (USA) Long Island's Seagrass conservation website, Seagrass.LI Alismatales genera Biota of the Atlantic Ocean Biota of the Pacific Ocean Biota of the Indian Ocean Biota of the Caspian Sea Salt marsh plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus