Buckbean

(Menyanthes trifoliata)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Corel Corporation

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

Identification: Aquatic. Flowers white, with 5 petals in a star-like arrangement. Petals covered with fine, fuzzy hairs. Flowers arranged in a loose, apical spike. Leaves on long petioles and with 3 leaflets, emergent from the water with the flower spike. Leaves broadest two-thirds of the way to the apex.

Distribution: Northern Canada, south to Illinois in the west and Vriginia in the east. Also occurs in most of western North America.

Habitat: Buckbean is found in the shallow water of ponds and bogs.

Flowering period: April to July.

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

Similar Species:

The combination of the fuzzy, starlike petals and the aquatic habitat make this an easily identifiable species.

Similar Species

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