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Sparganium americanum
Also called American Burreed, Nuttall's Burrweed, Three Square Burreed
Sparganium americanum, American bur-reed, is a perennial plant found in the United States of America and Canada. Though this species resembles a grass, it is a type of bur-reed. This species is important for conservation purposes because it has the ability to remove nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from water, like many other wetland species. By doing this, it protects waterways from excess nitrogen which can cause eutrophication. This increased nitrogen is especially a problem during the farmers' growing season. During this same time frame the S. americanum is growing and taking up nitrogen.
American bur-reed grows from spring to fall in low marsh and shallow water (from 0 to 12 inches of water) in the United States of America and Canada. In the United States, American bur-reed is found in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. In Canada, American bur-reed can be found in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward, and Quebec.
Narrowleaf bur-reed · European bur-reed · Simplestem bur-reed · Broadfruit bur-reed · Floating bur-reed · Clustered bur-reed · Sparganium gramineum · Small bur-reed · Bur-reed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sparganium americanum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
