Wetland Plants

Pickerelweed (Pontederia)

Emergent plant, heart-shaped leaves, Small blue flowers

Smartweed (Polygonum)

• zig zag stem

• Swollen stem joints

• Long, narrow leaves

• Spike flower clusters

Hybrid White Cattail (Typha x glauca)

• up to 10ft

Tussock Sedge (Carex stricta)

• 1-3ft

• Slender stem with brown seed capsules

• Grows in dense tufts

Bur-reed (Sparganium)

• 1-7ft

• Flowers appear as spherical heads

Water willow (Decodon)

• opposite leaves 3-6in, narrow, sword shaped

• White mid-vein

Bulrush (Scirpus)

Arrowhead(Sagittaria)

Flowers branch off central stalk

Vallisneria (Eelgrass)

Arrowhead(Sagittaria)

Flowers branch off central stalk

Vallisneria (Eelgrass)

Eelgrass (Vallisneria)

Submerged plant, ribbon-like, emerge in clusters from roots, leaves have rounded tips, single white flowers grow on water surface

Phragmites (phragmites australis)

Leaves blue-green, flower brown-purple

Curly Leaf Pondweed (Potamogeton crispus)

Stem: flattened, brittle, pale yellow

Leaves: alternate

Flower: small, white

Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)

Stem: smooth, yellow/green

Height: 3-10ft

Leaves: gray/green, small feathers

Flower: yellow-brown, sometimes pink

Common duckweed (Lemna minor)

Floating plant with 1-3 leaves, green underside

Spatterdock (Nuphar advena)

Stem: thick, long

Height: 1-1.5ft

Flower: half opened, yellow

American White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

Leaves: floating, underside red/purple

Flower: white to pink

Narrowleaf Pondweed (Potamogeton strictifolius)

Stem and leaf: Submerged

Flowers: terminal spike, 3-4 in whorl

Narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia)

• leaves long, thin, and ribbon-like

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)

• long purple spikes

• 2-7ft

• Stiff, four-sided stem

Wild rice (Zizania)

• aquatic grass

• 2-3m tall

• Large flowering head with male spikelets on lower stems and female on top of stem

Arrow arum (Peltandra virginica)

• underside of leaf lighter in color with 3 veins

Coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum)

• leaves whorled around stem

• Leaves crowded towards tip

• Submerged

• No roots

Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea)

• 2-9ft

• Flowers: single flower in dense clusters, green-purple, beige over time

• Leaves: tapering leaf, flat and rough on both sides

• Hairless stem