Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Pond plant identification with pictures

PBF members -

I've received a number of inquiries as to the plant (or weed?) growing in our pond. I'm no botanist so pardon if I use incorrect terminology up front. I've always referred to the plant as a grass simply because it looks like a wide blade grass to me.

BACKGROUND: Note the pond is in the Piedmont zone of Georgia. This was a valley where run off comes down 4 areas and the "end of this area" was dammed up way back in the day. The dry area of the valley you don't see has a large area with ferns and used to be a crop area from what I've been told.

TEXTURE: The text is rough but not sharp like razor grass. You slide a blade between your fingers and it is not glass smooth. It is like a sandpaper but also "sticky" - no not really sticky but maybe "hair" that when you drag your fingers against it causes friction so it seems sticky?

HEIGHT: I think the height is limited to 5 feet or so. In the shallow end of the pond that is roughly 7 feet deepest the grass will grow but seems to top out around 5 feet. This is not exact as I've not measured it, but it grows in the shallows for sure and not in the deeper water.

SUN/SHADE: It appears to grow wherever there is light. Our pond receives sun and there are no spots that are shaded 24/7. The number one factor appears to be depth. Our pond is almost like a quarry where there is maybe a 2-3 foot ledge and then it drops to 8 to 10 feet immediately. The ledge might be 1 foot wide. So this grass will grow on the ledge but not beyond that. The shallow area of the pond that is gradual slope has the grass growing everywhere, and that is because again the max depth is 7 to 8 feet. You can see in the pictures that along the shore as you wade out from inches to feet in depth the grass thins out as the water gets deeper.

FLOWER/SEED: I've never seen this grass flower, nor have I seen any seeds. Now again no botanist here, but I never see seedpods as you would with Iris or flowers as you would with flowering plants. Just plain old grass.

I've tried to take some pictures that may help in identifying this plant. OH and I think it can grow out of the water as well. I will have to verify this but I know close the pond I have seen it grow and not in the water.

Pulling it out is easy. Just grab near the base and an easy tug and it comes right out roots and all.

Lastly, the fish love it. The perch and CNBG and RES all swim among it.

Anyone know what this is? If I need better pictures or anything let me know.







And in this pic I GIMPed three pics together but now realize a fourth pic is missing so you can see where that pic should have gone. But you see how in the super shallow area far right that is maybe 1-3 feet deep the grass grows a lot. And then as you see the water area where the grass is "laying over" that depth is 4-5 feet. And if you look close in the water you can see beneath the surface a "mat of grass" and that depth is 6' or more.

Thanks for posting your pond plant pictures. Are you referring to the plants growing above the water or below the water or both? The plant pictured in your hand appears to be one that had leaves above the water since it has heavy coarse roots; a common feature of emergent plants. For the plants growing deeper in 4 to 5 ft depth and completely under the surface are a different plant than the one pictured in your hand.

Note: The emergent category of plants have a stem that is relatively stiff and when help upright will remain upright and not fall or bend over. True submerged plants have limp stems and will not remain upright when held upward. I am interested to know the name of the submerged plants. If you can pull some of those plants growing completely underwater and get close pictures that will be helpful.

Your tall shoreline emergent plants appear close to a sweet-flag (Arum) but the root structure is not correct. It definitely does have some sort of flower, maybe inconspicuous, at some point in the year as most all higher level green plants produce some sort of flowers and seeds. They are definitely not cattails. I need to 'brush up' on my Georgia water plants for a better plant name for those tall emergent plants. See Below.

See Kelly Duffie's suggestions from the archives of how to get good plant pictures:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=371748#Post371748

For a more in-depth plant identification of aquatic plants of southeast US
http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/Circulars/CIRC158.pdf

Bill -

The plant in my hand is the same as the plant "under water". In water 3.5' or less the plants seem to be strong enough to stand upright out of the water, but when the water is 4' and deeper the plants don't seem to be able to stand upright out of the water but fall over.

I will pull out one of each when I get another opportunity but I am 99.9% certain they are the same. I could be wrong though. .01% chance

All these grass looking plants start at the bottom and grow upright through the Spring and Summer. Looking at the Sweet Flag I know that I have never seen the flower that is cone like in appearance for the pictures I've looked up. So I am uncertain about that?

I'm not familiar with that particular aquatic plant, but you might check out these links to see if they offer any correlation.
Iris virginica
Iris Pseudacorus

The cattail-looking plant in the second picture looks a lot like bur-reed (note midrib), but it could be some type of sedge. It will help if you get a picture when it has seeds.

The species of iris will not grow completely submerged. Keep a close eye for any type of flower that appears. Aquatic Iris will have a very apparent flower in spring, probably April in GA. I don't think burreed grows underwater.

Bur-reed does not grow completely submerged.

Some more pics, and look at what has emerged in some of the pics! Hope this emergent "thing" helps ID the plant!



Note the water level has dropped as it always does this time of year. So in the Spring this is underwater and as Summer progresses the level drops. These plants were in 12 inches of water 2 months ago and gradually dropping since. Note that beneath the leaf cover and crud the "soil" is very moist and spongy.




So a lot of these plants that were underwater in February and then gradually rising out of the water from then til now have these "spike balls". Not all of them, but a lot of them. And I did NOT have a lot of time to study, but it appears the plants now out of the water have the spike balls while the ones still submerged in whole or 75% or more do not have these spike balls.




Does this help anyone ID the plant? It is a round "stem" with these soft spike balls. They are soft, not hard, and not spikey like thorns but soft spikes like an eraser.

Bur-reed

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/gnt_burreed.html

You have provided some good pitures. The seed heads confirm the name as burr reed Sparganium genus. As the heads mature and dry they will become hard and spiny with seeds inside. You are teaching us that it can grow submerged at least for part of the life cycle. Interesting feature.

With further searching, I learned some new plant information today. The genus Sparganium is in the cattail family. The plant of 'basslover' is likely Sparganium emersum which has emergent and submerged growth forms. It has common names of unbranched burr reed, simple stem burr reed, floating leaved burr reed, European burr reed, and submerged Sparganium. It often grows submerged in streams. One unknown for me is how deep does it generally grow in the pond habitat? Growth depth is likely dependent on water clarity.
Links to more reading:
http://www.americansouthwest.net/plants/wildflowers/sparganium-emersum.html
http://science.halleyhosting.com/nature/basin/aquatic/sparganium/emersum.html
http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/unbranched-bur-reed
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=222000365
http://www.arkive.org/unbranched-bur-reed/sparganium-emersum/
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-taxon=Sparganium%20emersum

Sweet. We now know the grass growing in the pond. Thank you!!!

I will try to get some accurate measurements soon. I just know the depth of 7 feet and that stuff grows up from there. It lines most of our pond and thrives in the more shallow areas of less than 3' of water. The fish love it - especially the perch and CNBG. Dragon and damsel fly larvae all find it suitable for living on.

The plants in the water fully submerged - I've never seen these spikey balls on. Only on the plants in the very shallow or no above ground water areas.

For anyone considering planting it here are my observations the past 5 years:
- insects and fish love it
- it grows quickly in sunlight
- it grows thick to the point in the shallower areas it could "choke out" and become so thick it is difficult to fish in
- fishing hooks love it and snag it every opportunity
- it is easily removed by pulling on it, at the base will bring the roots super easy and even if you grab it near or at the top often you will get the roots as well

What I do now in the Spring is I go and clear out paths by walking around or kayaking and pulling out targeted plants. I essentially create water lanes and therein fishing lanes. I do see some new growth but the lanes stay clear for most of the year and then I repeat the process next Spring.

Bill - Thank you for the research. My comment about bur-reed not growing submerged was based on giant bur-reed and is obviously wrong for the genus as a whole. I consider it a good day when one of my misconceptions is shattered. Thank you again!

Basslover- you have a good way of managing this plant without chemicals. Big benefits are it makes very good habitat including living spaces for invertebrates, provides great fish cover, it competes with FA and other nuisance algae, and your water stays clear with this plant. Provide us the link where you show how clear your water is in the spring. I know of no place that sells these plants.

I wonder how it might be as a substitute for eel grass. I have no luck establishing eel grass but may try again when my forage pond fills and the water clears.