Wildflower Wednesday: Pickerelweed
While kayaking yesterday in Coonamessett Pond in Falmouth, I encountered a number of patches of flowering pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata). Pickerelweed is a common emergent plant in freshwater marshes, and along the edges of ponds, lakes and streams. It has 4-10 inch long heart-shaped basal leaves extending above the water’s surface on long stalks, and spikes of small purple flowers. Each individual flower, approximately a 1/2 inch wide when fully open, has a three-lobed upper petal with two yellow spots in…