July, 1920 
C3be Tlower (Brower 
113 
Some Wild Marsh Plants. 
By Katherine E. Koch, in Landscape Architecture. 
ALONG any lake-shore, the wet places 
/ \ are hard to drain. In such a situa- 
/ % tion, therefore, one should not en- 
deavor to make the natural water- 
loving growth over, but to change it 
a little here and there by adding to existing 
forms, and perhaps by taking out some to 
make room for others, in order to make the 
spacing more agreeable, and to give variety 
and interest to the composition. Individual 
specimens may be used, because of their pecu- 
liar form, color, or foliage, to enhance such a 
situation; or groups of plants, for the same 
reasons, may be used effectively. The fol- 
lowing studies were made at the Biological 
Field Station of Cornell University, at the 
Renwick Marsh, in the spring, summer and 
fall of 1915. 
Acorns Calamus. Sweet Flag. 
This is an aquatic that grows along the 
margins of streams. It is an erect herb, with 
sword-shaped leaves, from 2 to 6 feet tall. 
The blossom is a spadix, with minute green- 
ish flowers. 
The plant is propagated by means of seeds. 
The rootstocks are very aromatic and furnish 
the drug calamus. 
It is of use in a landscape to form a back- 
ground for lower-growing forms along the 
water’s edge. The foliage is an olive-green 
which is noticeably different from the green 
of Sedge and Cat-tails. Also, it holds its deep 
green color longer than the surrounding 
mead-covering forms — of those observed, 
only Iris kept its green longer. It can be de- 
tected in any mass of plant-growth by its 
delicious odor. 
Hibiscus moscheutos. Marsh Mallow. 
This is a plant occurring in the drier parts 
of a marsh. It grows from 4 to 6 feet high. 
The large, ovate leaves have long petioles. 
The leaves are whitish, pubescent on the 
under side, and are light green and smooth 
on the upper surface. The showy blossoms 
may be 7 or 8 inches broad, and either pink 
or white. There is a succession of bloom as 
the many buds at the apex of the stalk 
develop. 
Marsh Mallow is propagated by seeds, but 
the plants do not blossom the first year unless 
the seed is planted early. 
Marsh Mallow has its natural limitations. 
U nless the surrounding vegetation is cut away, 
it is overtopped and suppressed because of the 
late start that is made each season. 
Iris pseudac.orus. Yellow Iris. 
This is peculiarly a marsh Iris. The plant 
grows 2 to 3 feet high. The linear, sword- 
shaped leaves are a rich green. The plant 
has thick, creeping, horizontal rootstocks. 
The flowers are a beautiful, clear bright yel- 
low. The flattened, brownish, disk-like seeds 
germinate the last of May and in June, and at 
this time may be seen floating about on the 
surface of the water. 
The Iris has an intrinsic value in its foliage, 
in both form and color. The stiff, straight 
leaves are pale green and glaucous. They 
are always conspicuous and attractive. 
Iris versicolor. Blue Iris. 
This Iris grows in drier situations, and 
flowers later than the yellow Iris. While the 
latter grows out in the water, the blue Iris 
prefers the banks where its roots are not 
submerged, and the leaves are erect and 
shorter than the flower-stalk, growing from 1 
to 2 feet high. It, too, has thick fleshy hori- 
zontal rootstocks covered with fibrous roots. 
•Extracts from the article by above title in Land- 
scape Architecture of July 1916. The original was 
nicely illustrated. 
Nuphar advena. Spatterdock. 
This plant has floating and submerged 
leaves. The former are exposed when the 
water recedes, showing erect thick leaves on 
stout petioles. The yellow flowers, tinged 
with purple, are always attractive, and the 
color harmonizes with the rich green of the 
foliage. The plant has thick horizontal root- 
stocks. These creep in the soil in such a 
way as to make it quite difficult to dig the 
plant out of the water. 
This plant should be massed at the water’s 
edge as a background for the white Water- 
lily. The leaves of Spatterdock are liable to 
be destroyed by the larvae of the Galerucella 
beetle. 
Nymphaea odorata. White]Water-Lily. 
This is a common native aquatic. The en- 
tire circular leaves are often crimson on the 
lower surface. The rootstocks are stout and 
creeping. The showy, white, sweet-scented 
flowers occur from June to September. The 
fruit is globose and ripens under water. 
Water-lilies are propagated by division, or 
by seeds. 
Peltandra virginica. Arrow Arum. 
Arrow Arum is a marsh herb with arrow- 
shaped leaves on long petioles, growing 2 to 3 
feet high. The roots are long, coarse fibers. 
The clusters of pale yellow flowers, stami- 
nate above and pistillate below, occur in the 
form of a spadix surrounded by a spathe. 
The flower of Arrow Arum is interesting in 
its development. When the full growth is 
reached, the spathe opens up, then can be 
seen its very delicate greenish yellow crin- 
kled edges, back of which the spadix, which is 
shorter than the spathe and is protected by 
it, is exposed to view. It, too, is a delicate 
greenish yellow color. The spathe turns 
brown during tbe process of fertilization, 
which occurs under water. Then the spathe 
closes up tight and fruit begins to develop. 
The seeds germinate readily. The seedlings 
then float about on the surface of the water 
until they can attach themselves so that the 
plant becomes stationary, when the roots 
develop and the plant grows. Arrow Arum 
may be propagated be transplanting ; or, if 
seeds are used, they should be germinated 
where they will not be blown or washed 
away. 
Arrow Arum is found intimately associated 
with Arrowhead, and may be mistaken for 
the latter; but the foliage of Arrow Arum 
is more profuse, in denser masses, has larger 
leaves, and is a richer green. While the 
leaves of Arrow Arum are pinnately parallel- 
veined, those of Arrowhead have palmately 
parallel venation. 
This plant certainly has its place in the 
water-garden. The flowers produce no effect 
in mass, and are inconspicuous on the indivi- 
dual plant except when full-grown and the 
spathe peeps out. The value of the plant 
lies in its rich foliage, which makes it effect- 
ive planted singly or in mass. 
Scirpus fluviatilis. Flood-Plain Bulrush. 
This is a sedge almost invariably associated 
with Cat-tail. It, too, is one of the dominant 
forms— tall, upright, slender and unbranched. 
The broadly linear leaves taper gradually to 
a point. The margin of the leaves is often so 
sharp that when walking through a patch of 
plants, one feels the cutting edge of the 
leaves. The flowers are in the axils of the 
bracts at the top of the stem. They are not 
showy, yet are quite attractive when the long 
yellow stamens are conspicuous. 
The tubers before they sprout are black, 
rough and very hard. In a Bulrush colony 
these tubers mat together so closely that they 
can easily be felt as one walks over the 
irregular surface of the ground. 
Bulrush prefers a drier situation than Cat- 
tail, yet it stands the vicissitudes of getting 
wet and then drying the best of any of the 
aquatics. It follows Cat-tail in encroaching 
upon other forms. 
The flood-plain Bulrush is not especially 
desirable in a planted water-garden. It has 
a place in large areas. When considerable 
stretches are grown simply for mead-cover, 
interesting color effect is produced. The 
long narrow leaves form a somewhat flat- 
topped cluster which is gray-green and quite 
lustrous. 
Typha. Cat-Tails. 
1 his is perhaps the most aggressive of the 
mead-covering forms. Two species occur at 
Renwick: Typha latifolia, the broad-leaved 
type, and T. angusti/olia, the narrow-leaved 
form. In T. angusti/olia the staminate and 
pistillate flowers are separated by a short 
stem; in T. latifolia both flowers meet. Typha 
has fibrous roots and strong creeping root- 
stocks. The leaves are linear, flat, and 
sheathing at the base. The flowers form a 
terminal spike. The growth is rapid and the 
plants mature early. The fruit ripens in 
August. 
Because of the vigorous creeping stems 
that grow out from the parent plants along 
the surface of the water, a floating mat that 
grows out into the water is often formed. 
For this reason, and because it encroaches 
upon other forms, crowding them out, Typha 
is not wholly satisfactory foraquatic planting 
except to cover large stretches of water. In 
any case, one may have to use methods of 
control; the plants may be kept in bounds by 
cutting under water and pulling out at the 
edges. 
Because of its characteristic tall, slender, 
upright and unbranched stem, Typha easily 
bends to the breezes and elastically recovers. 
This waving of the Cat-tail with the breezes 
is so a part of an aquatic environment that 
the absence of this in the landscape would 
make a water-planting incomplete. 
Zizania aquatica. Wild Rice. 
This plant blossoms in June, along the 
margins of streams. The large, loose, hand- 
some, panicled yellow blossoms tower up 
above the green foliage of the surrounding 
plants. Groups of plants, and even a single 
plant, give an atmosphere of stateliness. 
Where contrast is desired, this can be very 
advantageously used. However, the blossom 
is not long lived— two weeks at the most. 
Wild rice is an annual, and when it does not 
self-sow it needs to be replenished every 
spring. 
A study for spring effect would not be com- 
plete if the background trees of the marshes 
were not considered; especially the willows 
scattered about. They add another shade of 
green that is very much enhanced by the 
effect of atmosphere and distance. In fact, 
the effect of sky and atmosphere over a marsh 
with its wonderful green vegetation is fas- 
cinating, the panoramic changes are so sub- 
tile and the color compositions so rich and 
varying. 
A marsh, during the summer, is a quiet 
green. At this time the vegetation has 
reached its prime in foliage growth. Little 
change in greens takes place. The charm of 
a summer landscape is in the color produced 
by the succession of bloom of the marsh 
inhabitants. 
Early fall on a marsh is a time of transi- 
tion. Then the greens are gradually chang- 
ing into brown. Typhas begin to change at 
the tips, and this discoloration works down- 
[Continued on page 115.] 
