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Sesbania vesicaria
Also called Bladderpod, Bagpod Sesbania, Bladderpod Sesbania
Bagpod is a tall, fast-growing annual herb or shrub-like plant from the pea family, native to the southeastern United States, that grows in wet pastures, disturbed ground and old rice fields. It is mostly a weedy plant rather than a garden ornamental, and it is best known for its bladder-like seed pods.
Sesbania vesicaria, commonly known as the bagpod or bladder pod, is a plant in the family Fabaceae native to North America. This species is a facultative hydrophyte occurring in wetlands and non-wetland areas. It is one of the 60 identified species in the genus Sesbania. The species name vesicaria is derived from the Latin word vesica, -ae meaning bladder or balloon.
Sesbania vesicaria is a tall, annual herb with a single main stem, 4 to 8 feet tall. This plant species is identified as being a shrub with pinnately compound leaves.
Bag pod flowers are easily propagated by planting seeds on prepared seed beds or lightly disturbed, wet mineral soils. Once emerged, the seedlings prosper under very wet soil conditions but have a surprising tolerance for dry soils. Sesbania vesicaria can tolerate fire, freshwater flooding, drought, and prospers under heavy livestock grazing after cultivation. The best control of Sesbania vesicaria is frequent mowing or application of herbicides licensed for use on aquatic plants. It is blamed for one death in South Carolina in Late October 2021. A hiker ate some pods and died after three days in the hospital.
Sesbania vesicaria is restricted to a freshwater habitat where salinities approach 0 ppt and is most commonly found on mineral soils in wet pastures, disturbed areas, commonly present in abandoned rice fields. Sesbania vesicaria generally will grow as scattered individual plants but will sometimes form dense colonies. Sesbania vesicaria has been identified in 10 different states throughout the United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. In the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, and Great plains, this species will be present as a facultative hydrophyte where this species occurs in wetland and non-wetland areas. In the Midwest this species is identified as an obligate hydrophyte because it will almost always occur in wetland areas.
Dunchi fiber · Sesbania · Sesbania chippendalei · Poisonbean · Dragon Flowertree · Vegetable hummingbird · Bigpod sesbania · Sesbania madagascariensis · Sesbania mossambicensis · Sesbania pachycarpa · Rattlebox · Sesbania rostrata
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sesbania vesicaria 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.
