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Pontederia cordata
Also called Pickerel Weed, Heart Leaved Pickerelweed
Pickerelweed is a clump-forming aquatic perennial that grows emergent in shallow water and wet margins, valued as a garden pond plant. It needs consistently wet roots and full sun to bloom well.
Pontederia cordata, common name pickerelweed (USA) or pickerel weed (UK), is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the Americas. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eastern Canada south to Argentina. A few examples include northern rivers, the Everglades and Louisiana.
This plant is cultivated as an ornamental garden pond plant, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The species grows as an emergent plant, that is, in flooded conditions, so the plant is generally dependent upon aerenchyma in the stem to carry oxygen into the roots. Its metabolism is, however, also tolerant of low soil oxygen. It is often found in areas where water levels fluctuate naturally, with spring flooding and later summer emergence. Apart from flooding, the species is also influenced by soil fertility, tending to grow in the more fertile bays of large lakes, for example. Like many aquatic plants, it is negatively affected by salinity and grazing. It is also negatively affected by competition from other wetland plants. Like many wetland plants, it can survive unfavorable conditions as buried seeds in the soil. In a 36-year study on this species in a sinkhole pond, it was found to have an inverse relationship with American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea), declining in years with high American lotus abundance and increasing in years in with low American lotus abundance.
The young leafstalks can be eaten raw (with the unripe fruits stripped off) or cooked. The seeds are edible raw, and can be ground into grain.
Pontederia azurea · Water hyacinths · Monochoria korsakowii · Pontederia vaginalis · Floating Water Hyacinth · Pontederia sagittata · Pickerelweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pontederia cordata 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.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
