PONTEDERIACE^— PICKEREL-WEED 



FAMILY 



PICKEREL-WEED 



Pontederia corddta 



Named in honor of Guilio Pontedera, professor of botany 

 in Padua, 1 688-1 757. 



One of the big, perennial bog-plants standing in shal- 

 low water along the borders of ponds and streams; bear- 

 ing ragged spikes of blue flowers 

 from June to October. Nova 

 Scotia to Minnesota, south to 

 the Gulf States, 



Stem. — Rather stout, two to 

 three feet high, one-leaved, with 

 several, sheathing, bract-like 

 leaves at the base. 



Leaves. — Thick, tough, leath- 

 ery, with many parallel veins, 

 ovate, cordate-sagittate, margin 

 entire, apex obtuse; basal lobes 

 obtuse, often with long narrow 

 appendages on the sheathing 

 petiole; the basal leaves long- 

 petioled. 



Flowers. — Blue, numerous, 

 borne on a clumsy terminal 

 spike, which proceeds from a 

 spathe that is soon outgrown, 

 trimorphous. Spadix and in- 

 florescence glandular, hairy. 



Perianth. — Funnel-shaped, 

 two-lipped, tube slightly curved; 



17 



Pickerel-weed. Pontederia 

 corddta 



