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Arrow Arum,
Tuckahoe
Peltandra virginica
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Height: 1-2 feet
Blooms: May-July
Description: aquatic plant with arrow-shaped leaves; flowers are tiny, located on a slender stem inside a hood
Habitat/Range: Swamps, shores of ponds and slow-moving streams in shallow water or muddy ground.
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Arrowhead,
Common Arrowhead,
Duck Potato,
Wapato
Sagittaria latifolia
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Height:
Blooms: August
Description: Arrow shaped leaves with radiating veins, three-petaled white and yellow flowers.
Habitat/Range: Wetlands, eastern Unites States.
Details: Native Americans and early European settlers used the starchy tuber as a food source; tubers are a valuable food source for ducks, muskrats, and other wildlife, are called duck potatoes.
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Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis
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Height: 3-5 feet
Blooms: August to mid-September
Description: Bright red flowers
Habitat/Range: Marshes and low, very wet woodlands; Atlantic coastal plains to Great Plains wetlands.
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Cattail, Broad-leaved,
Common Cattail,
Great Bulrush
Typha latifolia
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Height: 3-7 feet
Blooms: June; fruiting late July-September
Description: Leaves are erect 2-3” wide; stiminate and pistillate dark brown, 4-7”.
Habitat/Range: Wetter areas of wetland; common throughout North American.
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Cattail, Narrowleaf
Typha angustifolia
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Height: 3-7 feet
Blooms: June; fruiting late July-September
Description: Leaves are erect 2-3” wide; stiminate and pistillate dark brown, 4-7”.
Habitat/Range: Wetter areas of wetland, shores, stream banks, ditches and margins of lakes and ponds, usually in shallow water, more tolerant of brackish or saline conditions;
probably non-native, located in the northeastern range of T. latifolia (common cattail), Maine to Montana, Kentucky and Missouri to Texas.
Details: Considered an invasive non-native species.
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Climbing Hempweed
Mikania scandens
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Height: Up to 15 feet
Blooms Summer
Description: Deciduous, climbing, herbaceous vine, often blanketing nearby vegetation; whitish-pink flowers and triangular leaves.
Habitat/Range: Perimeter of lakes, swamps, wet woodlands, freshwater marshes, stream banks in the Atlantic coastal plain.
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Common Reed
Phragmites australis
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Height: Up to 20 feet.
Description: In July or August, reed grass develops a dark brown, feather shaped inflorescense (up to about five inches wide and almost one foot high) at the top that changes to a lighter brown when the seeds have developed.
Habitat/Range: Dominates less flooded areas of the marsh; worldwide distribution.
Details: Grows from both seeds and underground stem with shoots (rhizomes). Found in many other places in the world, reed grass has been used in the production of paper. In Atlantic coast wetlands, often spreads rapidly and crowds out other native grasses.
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Jewelweed,
Touch-Me-Not
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Height: 2-5 feet
Blooms: June to August
Description: Trumpet-
shaped orange flower.
Habitat/Range: Marshes and low, wet woodlands; from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, from Florida to Nebraska.
Details: Juice from the stem is folk remedy for poison ivy itching; ripe seed pods burst and scatter seeds when touched (hence, the name “Touch-Me-Not”).
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Lizard's Tail
Water Dragon
Saururus cernuus
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Height: 2-5 feet
Blooms: June to September
Description: Tiny flowers in a 4-6 inch curved spike.
Habitat/Range: Swamps, shallow water.
Details: Lizard's-tail is an endangered plant in some Atlantic states.
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Marsh Hibiscus, Swamp Rose Mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos
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Height: 4-7 feet
Blooms: July to September
Description: Multi-stemmed, shrub-like herbaceous perennial; large white flowers with red centers up to 6” across; large leaves 2-3” wide and 6-8” long, velvety beneath and smooth on top. Another species, also common, has smaller pink flowers, is called Seashore Mallow (Hibiscus palustris).
Habitat/Range: Grows in swamps, marshes and ditches from Massachusetts to Michigan, south to Texas and Florida.
Details: A confection was made in colonial America from roots of another plant called the “marsh mallow” (Althaea officinalis).
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New York Ironweed
Vernonia novebora-
censis
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Height: 3 feet
Blooms: July - October
Description: Tiny, purple flowers in clusters 3-5” across.
Habitat/Range: Marsh and stream edges, wet woodlands.
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Olney Three-Square,
American Threesquare,
Salt-Marsh Bulrush,
Chairmaker’s Rush
Schoeno-
plectus americanus
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Height: 3 feet
Blooms: Summer
Description: Triangular stem (“three-square”),
Habitat/Range: Grows in wet pockets throughout the marsh, throughout North America.
Details: Once widely used for chair caning; new plants grow both from seeds and rhizomes (underground stems)
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Pickerelweed
Pontederia cordata
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Height: 1-4 feet
Blooms: July - August
Description: Aquatic plants grow out of shallow water; heart-shaped leaves 3-7” long with parallel veins; small showy mass of flowers on a 6” spike; forms clumps, long fleshy stalks.
Habitat/Range: Shallow water of marshes, ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, and wet ditches.
Details: Dormant in winter; young, unfurled leaves are edible in salads or boiled, seeds are edible and nutritious; does well in water gardens, easily controlled by dividing or planting in containers.
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Salt-Marsh Cordgrass,
Smooth Cordgrass,
Smooth Marshgrass
Spartina alterniflora
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Height: 1-7 feet.
Blooms: June-October
Description: Flat leaf blades 12-20” long; highly salt tolerant, salt crystals excreted by glands are often visible on leaves after dry periods.
Habitat/Range: Wetter, mid- to high-tide areas of salt and brackish areas of the marsh;Newfoundland south toFlorida and Texas.
Details: Most common and widely distributed salt-marsh plant on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts; used extensively for shoreline protection and marsh restoration because it efficiently absorbs wave energy (against erosion), filters sediment, and utilizes sediment nutrients, and provides nursery and feeding grounds for fish and crabs, and food and cover for marsh wildlife and fowl.
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Water Hemlock
Cicuta maculata
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Height: 2-4 feet
Blooms: July-August
Description: Has tall flower stalks topped with clusters of tiny flowers that look like Queen Anne's Lace.
Habitat/Range: Wet marshlands and woodlands from Texas and Florida to Ontario.
Details: Water hemlock is a highly poisonous plant. Do not taste any part of it. Wash your hands after handling it. Contains the alkaloid coniine that was used to poison the Greek philosopher Socrates.
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Swamp Dock
Rumex verticillatus
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Height: 3-4 feet.
Blooms: April - June
Description: Erect, unbranched, smooth stem; leaves are pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, without teeth, smooth, up to 6” long; greenish 1/8” flowers in whorls on slendar stocks up to 3/4" long.
Habitat/Range: Marshes and wet woodlands, sometimes in water.
Details: Dry brown fruit clusters form in July, have food and medicinal value; fruits are valuable food for waterfowl.
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Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
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Height: 2-4 feet
Blooms: July - August
Description: Pink or magent flower heads; tough pods after flowers drop; leaves are slender.
Habitat/Range: Low-lying areas at the edges of marshes and ponds; from mid-Atlantic to GulfCoast and Great Plains.
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Tickseed Sunflower,
Coreopsis,
Beggar-Ticks
Bidens aristosa
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Height: 1-4 feet
Blooms: August - October
Description: Daisy-like flower up to 2” across; stem is erect, branched, smooth.
Habitat/Range: Open marshes, wet ditches, stream banks; Atlantic coast to Great Plains.
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Water parsnip
(Sium Suave)
Greater Water Parsnip
(Sium latifoilum)
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Height: 2-6 feet
Blooms: July - September
Description: Numerous 2-3” clusters of very small
white flowers flowers that resemble Queen Anne's Lace; twice-divided leaves resemble water hemlock.
Habitat/Range: Marshes, swamps, wet ditches, and shores of lakes, rivers, and
streams; often occurs in the water.
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