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Pickerelweed

Pontederia

Also called Pickerel Weed, Pickerel Weeds

Pickerelweed
Photo: Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Public domain

Pickerelweed (Pontederia) is a genus of perennial aquatic plants native to the Americas, grown in shallow water or wet mud. Give it full sun and keep its roots wet or submerged.

Family
Pontederiaceae (Pontederi family)
Grows as
Succulent, Aquatic, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the roots submerged in shallow water or constantly wet mud.
Soil
Heavy mud or loam at the bottom of a pond, or a wet, heavy pot mix.
Temperature
Hardy in temperate zones; plants die back in winter and regrow in spring.
How easy
Easy

About

Pontederia is a genus of tristylous aquatic plants, members of which are commonly known as pickerel weeds. Pontederia is endemic to the Americas, distributed from Canada to Argentina, where it is found in shallow water or on mud. The genus was named by Linnaeus in honour of the Italian botanist Giulio Pontedera.

Pontederia plants have large waxy leaves, succulent stems and a thick pad of fibrous roots. The roots give rise to rhizomes that allow rapid colonization by vegetative reproduction. Species are perennial, and produce a large spike of flowers in the summer. There is a species of bee (Dufourea novaeangliae) that exclusively visits Pontederia cordata; waterfowl also eat the fruit of the plant.

Other Pontederia plants

Pontederia azurea · Water hyacinths · Monochoria korsakowii · Pontederia vaginalis · Pickerelweed · Floating Water Hyacinth · Pontederia sagittata

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pontederia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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