Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Commelinales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Pontederia cordata var. cordata
FAMILY
Pontederiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Pickerelweed from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
P. cordata exhibits tristyly, an interesting breeding system. Each plant has one of 3 types of flowers: (a) a short style, 3 medium and 3 long stamens, (b) a medium style, 3 short and 3 long stamens, or (c) a long style, 3 short and 3 medium stamens, per Weakley's Flora (2022)
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Pontederia cordata
FAMILY
Pontederiaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Pontederia cordata
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America
Pontederia cordata
SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Pontederia cordata
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 039-02-001:
Pontederia cordata FAMILY Pontederiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Pontederia cordata
COMMON NAME:
Heartleaf Pickerelweed, Wampee
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_poco14_007_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm080517_107
May Aiken County SC
Savannah River Bluffs Heritage Preserve
Lvs mostly ovate to triangular-lanceolate, base generally cordate or truncate, per Weakley's Flora.
COMPARE
Arrowhead, Arum, Elephant's Ear and Pickerelweed
)
JK Marlow jkm080517_181
May Edgefield County SC
Often in dense colonies, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm080517_185
May Edgefield County SC
Inflorescence a dense terminal spike-like panicle, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
COMPARE
aquatic plants
)
JK Marlow s080517_a
May Edgefield County SC
Leaves basally sheathing, petiolate, and parallel curved-convergent veined, per Plant Systematics (Simpson, 2010).
)
JK Marlow jkm060808_019
August Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm090815_128
August Greenville County SC
Beaverpond & adjacent land
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_cordata_cordata
August
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_p_cordata_cordatab
August
Flowers 2-lipped, each lip 3-lobed, the upper lip marked with yellow, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Pontederia cordata var. cordata
FAMILY
Pontederiaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Pontederia cordata
FAMILY
Pontederiaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Pontederia cordata
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America
Pontederia cordata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Pontederia cordata
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 039-02-001:
Pontederia cordata
FAMILY
Pontederiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Pontederia cordata
1137
Emergent aquatic (rooted); Forb
Perennial
Habitat: swamps, seepage areas, marshes, pond-shores, lake-shores, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Coastal Plain, uncommon in Piedmont, rare in Mountains
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Blue
2-lipped 6-lobed funnelform corolla
6 stamens (3 long exserted & 3 short included)
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Field Guide to Aquatic Plants of Alabama (Lovell, 2007) p31
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p185
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p162
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p324
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p467
- Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants p158
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p050
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p400
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p101
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p160
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p016
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p417
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p352
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p404?
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p005
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p292
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".