WCT: Pond and Riparian

Test 1

Broad-leaved Arrowhead – Sagittaria latifolia – Alismataceae

• Basal lobes on the leaves are usually spreading and pointing down, giving leaf an arrow shape

• Entire rhizome is edible

• Pond edges and shallow areas

Wild Calla

• Marshy areas, bogs and swamps (Shallow muddy waters)

• Leaves smooth-edged, heart-shaped & flower a single white spathe with spadix within

• All parts of plant are poisonous

Nodding beggarticks

Lance-shaped leaves with teeth on margins

• Sunny yellow flower heads are often “nodding”

• Pronged seeds phoresy seed dispersal*

Spotted Joe Pye Weed

• Leaves in whorls of 4-5, stem somewhat purple and spotted

• Composite pink flowers clustered at the top of the stem, which can be over 1m high

• Has a fluffy look to the flat-topped inflorescence

Common winterberry

Elliptical leaves with blunt teeth, widest at tip

• Flowers grow in leaf axils and fruit is a bright red berry that persists through the winter

-Tight to stem berries (Green-Red)

Spotted Jewelweed

Distinctive flowers, orange with red-brown spots. Seed pods explode. (Split and throw seeds everywhere)

• See small-flowered jewelweed (above) for uses

-Stream edge

Speckled (Gray) Alder

Alder of wet areas. Leaves ovate to round, double-toothed edge, with paired veins more than 10

• New buds stalked

• Medicinal uses include treatment of insect bites & poison ivy; also used as a dye.

Green (Downy, Mountain) Alder

• Prefers drier sites than speckled. Leaves elliptical, finely toothed, with paired veins less than 10 veins

• Underside of leaves shiny green with fine hairs. New buds NOT stalked.

• Medicinal uses include treatment of insect bites & poison ivy; also used as a dye.

Small-leaved Watercress

• Spreading, tangled mass of shoots

• Slow-moving waters and pools (By Springs)

• Edible raw or cooked with a peppery flavouring

Common Elderberry

• Only shrub (along with red elderberry) with opposite pinnate leaves. Twigs have WHITE pith. Compound

• Purple-black fruit, produced in flat-topped clusters, used in jams, jellies, preserves, pies, and

some wines

• Typically found in streamside/riparian habitats, as opposed to Red Elderberry which prefers dry/upland habitats

-Has raised brown lenticles

Eastern White Cedar

Overlapping scale-like foliage resembles fan shape on the branch

• Considered rare in NS & PEI (found mostly in western end of PEI)

• Grows in variety of conditions, from swamps to old pastures. Wet to somewhat dry soil.

Bulrush

• Tall species, conspicuous in shallow ponds and around salt marshes, stems can be 3-sided

• Flowers/seed on spikelet, achene (seed) has bristles (think bulrush has bristles)

• Culinary and medicinal uses, as well as used for making baskets and mats

Common woolly bulrush

• Small spikes with conspicuous bristles give a woolly appearance

• Grows in wet meadows and swamps, Very tall

• See bulrush (above) for uses

Sedge

• Sedges have edges – in cross-section stems are triangular

• In wet areas and poorly drained soils

• Flowers arranged on spikes

Roll three edges to stem

Ostrich fern

Large fern that comes up in a clump from a black knot-like rhizome.

• Sterile fronds resemble ostrich plumes. Separate fertile fronds grow in the middle of the clump.

• Best known for ONLY EDIBLE fiddleheads in early spring, which are the fronds unfolding

• Streambanks and wet areas

Sensitive fern

Wavy edges on sterile frond (leaf) make this an easy one to spot. Tiny beads on fertile frond

• Fertile frond rolls tightly and persists through the winter (wilts in cold)

• Grows in wet areas

Water horsetail

• Grows in dense colonies, in shallow water (rhizomatous)

-Rhizomatistem (Connected underground)

• “Leaves” are very small, black-tipped scales at joints of stem

• As with other Equisetaceae, historically used for scouring (high silica content)

-Strobilus on top (Reproductive structure)

Siberian Water Milfoil

• Thread-like leaves are arranged in whorls

• Found in brackish or alkaline water

-Slow/modified stems

Harlequin Blue Flag

• Leaves long and narrow, in a fan-like arrangement up the stem

• Six petals on the flowers, 3 largest called ‘falls’ and droop, other 3 erect

• Poisonous

-Has bright green seed pods

-Leaves reminiscent of cattail leaves

Rush

Very common wetland plants and found in roadside ditches

• Hollow, round stem

• Inflorescence often appears to be on the side of the stem rather than the tip

Turion duckweed

Minute aquatic plant, found floating in or on water

• Not differentiated into stems and leaves; instead, the flattened portion is known as a thallus

-Classic aquarium, light green root

Purple Loosestrife

Tall spikes of pinkish-purple flowers in summer and into early fall

• Square stem, woolly leaves

• Highly invasive plant of wetlands and wet areas

Bog Buckbean

• Grows in shallow water. Flowers early, star-shaped, white or pink petals with long hairs.

• Rhizomatous, forms mats with leaves held 10-30cm above the water

• Leaves are trifoliate, hairless, smooth

Smartweed spp.

• Pink or white flowers, usually clustered in a dense spike

• Found on borders of ponds and cattail marshes, in muddy areas

• Tearthumb is the name commonly given to a species of smartweed that has short downward-pointing bristles all along its stem

Clasping-leaved pondweed

No stalk, leaves are “clasped” around the stem alternately (No petiole)

• Flowers June-September, olive-green and small on short stalk, curving up just above the water’s surface

Creeping buttercup

• Deeply divided leaves, coarsely toothed and covered with stiff hairs

• Bright yellow flowers on erect stems, rounded petals often overlap

• All buttercups are poisonous to varying degrees if ingested

Tall Meadow-rue

One of the tallest wildflowers, at up to 1.5m high

• Compound leaves with shallow, terminal lobes, white flowers

Very common summer plant in marshes, meadows, ditches, and wet areas

Yellow Marsh Marigold

• Leaves rounded and deeply notched at the base, stem is hollow

• Common in wet woods or ditches, yellow flower stands out in early May/June

White Meadowsweet

• Simple coarsely toothed leaves

• Flower head is pyramid-shaped, white or pale pink flowers, look almost fuzzy from a distance

Willow

Shrub or small tree with narrow elliptical leaves (lots of hybridization)

• Contains salicin (related to aspirin) and has been used for centuries to treat pain and inflammation

• May have stipules (projections on either side of petiole)

-Always Wet

-yellow-green stem

Burreed

• Flat, narrow leaves, some species up to 1m tall

• Closely related to cattails

• Fruit is conspicuous – round and spiked in appearance (Many seeds, golf ball sized)

Broad-leaved Cattail

• Wide leaves, no gap between the staminate (male) and pistillate (female) spikes

• Pistillate spike looks like sausage

• Edible and medicinal uses, as well as used for stuffing bedding, diapers, mattresses, pillows, life jackets, etc.

Narrow-leaved cattail

• Leaves 3-7mm wide, staminate and pistillate spikes have a gap of at least 5mm

• Pistillate spike looks like hot dog

• See broad-leaved cattail for uses

Stinging Nettle

• Tall plants that can be found in disturbed areas and riparian zones

• Leaves are ovate, opposite with burning, stinging hairs on upper and lower surfaces

• Minute and green, wiry-looking trails of flowers produced in axils of leaves

Sweet Gale

Low shrub with red-brown stem, alternate spoon-shaped leaves with teeth at the tips

• Leaves fragrant when bruised

• Male catkins, female “flowers” are a cluster of styles (tube-like structures that lead to ovary)

• Found along edges of streams, still waters, and other damp habitats

Fragrant Water-lily

• Round leaves with purple-red undersides & sharp angle at notch/base of leaf

• Veins radiating from the petiole, white flower (sometimes pinkish)

• Rhizomatous, forms mats on water surface

White Turtlehead

• Non-branching, square, tall stems

• Grows in ditches and wet areas

• Individual flowers appear two-lipped, with hairs on bottom inside

• Medicinal uses include stimulating appetite, and for indigestion and constipation

Common Reed

-Grows in large colonies, very invasive

• Largest grass, up to 2m, with many spikelets

• Common on the upper borders of saltmarshes

Pondweed

Aquatic plants growing mainly in freshwater streams and ponds

• Alternate leaves, either partially or fully submerged, depending on species

• Much hybridization – definite identification often impossible

Liverwort (Bryophyte)

• Circular structures (gemmae) shaped like cups are characteristic of this genus

• Liverworts named because the leaf is lobular, looks like a liver; “wort” old word for plant

• Reproductive capsule is black on a translucent stalk

• No stems or leaves, only thallus (term used for body of a nonvascular plant)