Three New Line Drawings!

A Trio of Northern U.S. Aquatic Weeds

All drawings are by Dale Johnson, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida, Gainesville.

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Water chestnut
Trapa natans
This invasive non-native is present in Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania (?), New Jersey, New York and Vermont (Kartesz, 1999). It is native to Eurasia.

Water chestnut features a rosette of floating, fan-shaped leaves, each leaf having a slightly inflated petiole (stem); the roots are fine, long and profuse; the small 4-petalled flower is white; the fruit is a large nut having 4 sharp spines.

Color pictures of water chestnut may be found here.

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European frog-bit
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
This invasive non-native is present in shallow, slow-moving waters of New York, Quebec and Ontario (Kartesz, 1999). It was introduced from Europe.

European frog-bit leaves may be floating or emersed. The heart-shaped leaves are on long stems. The single 3-petalled flower is white. This plant looks similar to the native American frog-bit, Limnobium spongia.

Color pictures of European frog-bit may be found here.

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Yellow floating-heart
Nymphoides peltata
This invasive non-native is present in a diagonal line from Texas to New Hampshire, and into Quebec; also present in Arizona, California and Washington (Kartesz, 1999). It was introduced as an ornamental from eastern Asia.

Yellow floating-heart is a floating-leaved plant with large yellow flowers, and adventitious roots along an underwater stem.

Color pictures of yellow floating-heart may be found here.

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