Download Pictures and descriptions of wetland plants

Picture by K. Hopfensperger 2003
Picture by K. Hopfensperger 2003
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name:
Bushy Pondweed
Scientific Name: Najas guadalupensis
Description: Rooted, submerged aquatic plant; stems
very long and leafy; dark green or olive-colored; small
flowers and fruit.
Where it grows: Under surface of water
Wildlife Value: Food and shelter for aquatic organisms
Common Name: Jewelweed
Scientific Name: Impatiens capensis
Description: Herbaceous plant; 2-5 feet tall; fleshy;
orange or orange-yellow three-petaled flowers with
reddish brown spots and curved spur at end.
Where it grows: Throughout IZ
Wildlife Value: Food for birds; flowers attract butterflies
and hummingbirds
Picture by R. Kenyon 2004
http://cedarcreek.umn.edu/habitats/images/
aquaticplants.html 2004
Common Name: Common
Three Square
Scientific Name: Scirpus americanus
Description: Up to 3 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
semi-persistent; spreads by rhizomes; stems triangular
at cross-section; inconspicuous flowers in 3 or 4
spikelets covered by brown scales.
Where it grows: Upper part of IZ
Wildlife Value: Cover and food for many waterfowl and
other birds, muskrats and fish; nesting for bluegills,
largemouth bass and black crappie
Common Name: Spatterdock
Scientific Name: Nuphar lutea
Description: Herbaceous; floating; single yellow flower on
long fleshy stalk.
Where it grows: Below MLW
Wildlife Value: Food for waterfowl, beavers, porcupines,
deer, muskrats, fish; also shade, shelter for fish, etc.
Picture by K. Hopfensperger 2003
Picture by K. Hopfensperger 2003
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
© 1995 B. E. Slattery
Common Name:
Wild Rice
Scientific Name: Zizania aquatica
Description: Up to 10 feet high; large, soft, flat, tapered
leaves, margins rough.
Where it grows: Middle of IZ
Wildlife Value: Food for waterfowl and muskrats; nesting
for marsh wrens
Common Name: Tearthumb
Scientific Name: Polygonum arifolium
Description: Up to 4 feet long; stems jointed and prickly;
hairy leaves, broadly arrowhead-shaped with triangular
basal lobes; small pink flowers with four lobes in small,
close clusters.
Where it grows: Throughout IZ
Wildlife Value: Some food value
Picture by K. Hopfensperger 2003
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/aqu
atics/acorus.html 2002
Common Name: Cattail
Common Name:
Sweet Flag
Scientific Name: Acorus calamus
Scientific Name: Typha angustifolia
Description: Up to 10 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
Description: 1 to 4 feet in height; herbaceous, perennial,
persistent; spreads by rhizomes; male spike above
female spike with space in between.
nonpersistent; midrib of leaves off-center; small yellowbrown flowers.
Where it grows: Upper part of IZ
Where it grows: Above MHW
Wildlife Value: Food for waterfowl, muskrats, beavers
Wildlife Value: Food (rhizomes) and cover for waterfowl,
muskrats
(seeds and rhizomes); nesting for waterfowl, marsh
wrens, red-winged blackbirds, young fish
www.nhnursery.com/seedlings/buttonbush/buttonbushwetland.jpg 2001
www.netbuie.net/_acadia_outside.html 2003
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name: Buttonbush
Scientific Name: Cephalanthus occidentalis
Common Name: Swamp
Rose
Scientific Name: Rosa palustris
Description: 6 to 12 feet in height; deciduous shrub; small
white tubular flowers in dense ball-shaped heads.
Description: Up to 7 feet tall; deciduous thorny shrub; pink
five-petaled flowers.
Where it grows: Upper half of IZ to above MHW
Where it grows: In drier areas above MHW
Wildlife Value: Food for waterfowl, red-winged blackbirds,
song sparrow (seeds), hummingbirds (nectar); nesting
Wildlife Value: Food for upland game birds; food and
cover for songbirds
http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/Grasshtml/RiceCutgrass.ht
ml 2004
http://www.main.nc.us/naturenotebook/plants/arrow
arum.html 1999
Common Name: Rice
Common Name: Arrow
Arum
Scientific Name: Peltandra virginica
Description: Up to 2 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
nonpersistent; triangular-shaped, fleshy leaves.
Where it grows: Upper half of IZ
Wildlife Value: Food for wood ducks, other birds,
muskrats (seeds)
Cutgrass
Scientific Name: Leersia oryzoides
Description: Up to 5 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
nonpersistent; stems rough hairy; leaves have very
rough margins with stiff spines.
Where it grows: Upper part of IZ
Wildlife Value: Harbors food-source animals for waterfowl,
herons and other birds, fish, reptiles, etc; seeds for
ducks and sparrows
http://www.offwell.freeonline.co.uk/wetland_surv
e y/images/ duckweed.jpg 2001
Picture by K. Engelhardt 2004
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name: Duckweed
Scientific Name: Lemna minor
Description: Free-floating, surface-water aquatic plant;
stem lacking; leaflike structure broadly oval shaped,
dark green above, purple below.
Where it grows: Floats on the surface of fresh water (not
Common Name: Marsh
Hibiscus
Scientific Name: Hibiscus moscheutos
Description: 4 to 7 feet tall; shrub-like with new growth
coming from below ground each year; pink or white fivepetaled flowers with or without purple or red centers.
rooted to bottom)
Where it grows: Upper part of IZ to above MHW
Wildlife Value: Food for waterfowl and beavers
Wildlife Value: Food for hummingbirds
http://www.reston.org/parks_rec/ p_
shoreline_stable.html 2004
http://light.gotdns.com/gallery/Summer- RoadsidesBlue/Nettle_false1 2003
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name: Soft
Rush
Scientific Name: Juncus effusus
Description: Up to 3 ½ feet tall; grasslike, herbaceous,
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name: False
Nettle
perennial; forms dense clumps; stems unbranched,
round in cross-section, soft; greenish brown scaly
flowers in clusters.
Description: 1 to 3 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial; stems
Where it grows: Upper part of IZ to above MHW
unbranched, smooth or rough hairy; inconspicuous
flowers in dense elongate spikes.
Wildlife Value: Food, cover, nesting for wood ducks and
other waterfowl
Scientific Name: Boehmeria cylindrica
Where it grows: Throughout IZ
Wildlife Value: Larval food for butterflies
Wildlife Value: Important food source for waterfowl;
habitat, shade; harbors food for fish, invertebrates
http://www.akvariumas.lt/augalai/hydrocharit
aceae/images/elodea_canadensis.jpg 2004
http://www.fcwd.com/Wild%20celery.jpg 2004
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
© 1987 Abigail Rorer
Common Name: Wild
Celery
Common Name: Waterweed
Scientific Name: Elodea canadensis
Scientific Name: Vallisneria americana
Description: Rooted, submerged aquatic plant,
buried in mud; simple, very thin linear leaves, up to 7
feet, ribbon like.
sometimes floating at surface in shallow water; stems
many-branched; dark green leaves, mostly drooping
downward.
Where it grows: Below MLW (under water)
Where it grows: Below MLW (under water)
Description: Rooted, submerged aquatic plant; stems
Wildlife Value: Homes for many micro and macro
Wildlife Value: Nesting and cover for American robin,
invertebrates; food for fish, amphibians, reptiles, ducks,
etc. (invertebrates)
prairie warbler and American goldfinch; seeds for
waterfowl, quail, cardinal, grosbeak, goldfinch, yellowbellied sapsucker
www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecolog
y/mpages/black_willow.htm 2004
www.gypsymoth.ento.vt.
edu/vagm/treeimages/
maple_red.html 2001
Common Name: Red
Maple
Common Name: Black
Willow
Scientific Name: Acer rubrum
Scientific Name: Salix nigra
Description: 75 to 100 feet tall; deciduous tree; smooth
Description: 35 to 50 feet tall; deciduous tree; trunk up to
gray bark when young, broken and darker when older;
leaves have 3 to 5 shallow lobes; fruits reddish and
winged.
20 inches in diameter with brownish to blackish, deeply
grooved bark; narrow, fine-toothed leaves; stipules at
leaf bases; inconspicuous flowers on dense spikes.
Where it grows: Above spring tide elevation
Where it grows: Above MHW
Wildlife Value: Food for deer, beaver, squirrel, other small
Where it grows: Upper half of IZ
game, turkey, woodpeckers, doves and many other
birds; nesting
Wildlife Value: Food for some waterfowl, (seeds) geese
http://web.english.ufl.edu/rawlings/mkrawlingsAlbum.htm
2004
Common Name: Pickerelweed
and muskrats (foliage and roots)
http://www.holoweb.com/nature/plants
/images/Sagittaria_Latifolia_Willd._1_ preview.JPG
2004
Common Name: Duck
Potato
Scientific Name: Pontederia cordata
Scientific Name: Sagittaria latifolia
Description: Up to 4 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
Description: Up to 4 feet tall; herbaceous, perennial,
nonpersistent; spreads by rhizome; heart-shaped
leaves; numerous small violet-blue tubular flowers with
3 upper lobes (united) and 3 lower lobes (separated).
nonpersistent; spreads by underground runners; leaves
broadly to narrowly arrowhead-shaped; white, threepetaled flowers on single elongate stalks.
Where it grows: Middle of IZ
Wildlife Value: Food for many waterfowl, muskrats and
Tiner, R. W. 1987. A Field Guide to Coastal Wetland Plants of
the Northeastern United States. The University of Massachusetts Press,
Amherst, MA. 285pp.
beavers (seeds, foliage and tubers)
Key
MHW: Mean High Water
(Elevation of land that average high tide
reaches)
MLW: Mean Low Water
(Elevation of land that average low tide reaches)
IZ: Intertidal Zone
(Area of land between MHW and MLW)
Key
MHW: Mean High Water
(Elevation of land that average high tide
reaches)
MLW: Mean Low Water
(Elevation of land that average low tide reaches)
IZ: Intertidal Zone
(Area of land between MHW and MLW)
References
References
Ripple, K. L. and E. W. Garbisch. 2000. POW! The Planning of
Wetlands. An Educator’s Guide. Environmental Concern Inc., St. Michaels,
MD. 346pp.
Slattery, B. E. and A. S. Kesselheim. 1995. WOW! The
Wonders of Wetlands. An Educator’s Guide. Environmental Concern Inc. and
The Watercourse, St. Michaels, MD. 330pp.
Ripple, K. L. and E. W. Garbisch. 2000. POW! The Planning of
Wetlands. An Educator’s Guide. Environmental Concern Inc., St. Michaels,
MD. 346pp.
Slattery, B. E. and A. S. Kesselheim. 1995. WOW! The
Wonders of Wetlands. An Educator’s Guide. Environmental Concern Inc. and
The Watercourse, St. Michaels, MD. 330pp.
Tiner, R. W. 1987. A Field Guide to Coastal Wetland Plants of
the Northeastern United States. The University of Massachusetts Press,
Amherst, MA. 285pp.