wetland plants big swamp

Hydrophytes•Adapted to wet conditions

•Usually or always growing in wetlands

- facW: facultative hydrophytes = in WL > 66% of time

- obl: obligate hydrophytes = in WL > 99% of time

Aerenchyma•Spongy tissue in roots, (leaves) and stems•Stimulated by flooded conditions•Photosynthesis produces O2, which fills aerenchyma and diffuses to roots in anoxic environments, allowing them to continue aerobic respiration•Roots can be 60% pore space; honeycomb structure•May produce bouyancy (e.g. Nuphar advena, Potamogenton)

Morphological adaptations

Aerenchyma in soft-stem bulrush,

Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani

Eastern gamma grass roots

2

Nuphar advena, yellow water lily Potamogeton sp

Typha

Aerenchyma ecology

• Some animals, e.g. Notiphila (Diptera:

Ephidridae) larvae, utilize the O2 in roots of

plants (Nuphar advena)

• Oxidized rhizospheres can result from O2

leaking out of roots

• Resultant aerobic environment can prevent

some substances (e.g. soluble reduced Mn,

sulfide) from reaching toxic levels

• Hypoxia lowered enough to allow for survival of

flood-intolerant spp.?


3

lenticels

• Corky interruptions of the plant stem or root periderm

• Pores with critical passage size

• Articulate with interior tissues (e.g. aerenchyma) to allow gas exchange


4

Adventitious roots•Form on stems above anoxic zone•Replace water and nutrient absorbing function of dead roots•Help void ethanol produced by fermentation in anoxic conditions•Stimulated by formation of ethylene under anaerobic conditions•Phragmites, Lythrum salicaria, Ludwigia palustris, Polygonum amphibium, Salix


Ludwigia palustris

water purslane

Polygonum hydropiperoides

Mild water pepper

Polygonum amphibium

Water smartweed

5

Stem hypertrophy and fluted trunks

•Swelling of lower portion of stem; a.k.a. buttresses•Caused by development of aerenchyma•e.g. Taxodium spp. (pond cypress), Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)•Fluted trunks are enlarged portions of “feet” that lead to roots•e.g. Quercus palustris (pin oak), Ulmus americana (American elm)•Both provide support for plant

Morphological adaptations Stem hypertrophy and

adventitious roots

Fluted trunk

6

Stem elongation•Rapid growth of stem associated with rising water levels•Elevates leaves above flooded conditions•e.g. Rice (Oryza sativa), marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)

Shallow root systems •Deep roots nonadaptive in anaerobic conditions•Confers support•More access to O2•Some plants (e.g. red maple, Acer rubrum) are facultative in this regard


Caltha palustris

stem elongation

Shallow prop roots 7

Anaerobic respiration• Flood-tolerant species can carry on anaerobic respiration

(fermentation) in anoxic environments

• Tissues must survive increased ethanol and decreased pH

• Fermentation has lower energy yield and requires more glucose

• Fleshy rhizomes in flood-tolerant species store large amounts of carbohydrates

Physiological adaptations

8

Reduced water uptake• Results from reduced root metabolism in anoxic

conditions, despite water abundance

• Can result in wilting

Anaerobic respiration• Buttonbush (Cephalanthus

occidentalis) carries on

anaerobic respiration in roots

• Lactic acid (toxic to plant

tissues) is formed, but

transported to aerobic tissues

where it is aerobically

metabolized

Whole plant strategies

9

Biofilm – slimy subsurface coating

on cattails, etc.

•Protein-rich, fungus and bacteria

•Nurtured by host plant

•Reduces predation by insects et al.

Cattail/Rush Marsh, Lorain CoWetland TypesMarshes

• Open, sunny areas

• Mostly inundated throughout year

• Mostly herbaceous, shade-intolerant vegetation

• Various dominants, including sedges, rushes, grasses, cattails, etc.

• Grade into wet meadows (more saturated than inundated)

Swamps

•More shaded

•Woody vegetation more common

with shade tolerant herbaceous

understory

•Smaller discrete, temporary areas are

known as Vernal Pools

Bogs and Fens – peat-forming wetlands

•Glacial geology is formative in Ohio

•Fens – alkaline groundwater from glacial calcareous deposits (limestone)

•Bogs – often acid due to ombrotrophy, presence of sphagnum mosses

Camden Bog, Lorain Co.

Sedge meadow by marsh,

West Virginia

Vernal Pool,

Big Swamp

Duckweeds

Naja flexilisElodea

Submergent

Common Bladderwort

Utricularia

vulgaris Bladders are carnivorous

leaves

roots

Water Milfoil

(invasive)

Dichotomous branching

Pinnate

branching

Ceratophyllum demersum

(native)

Marsh plants – obl, herbaceous

Floating and floating rooted

Pondweed

White water Lily

Nymphaea odorata

Marsh – obl, herbaceous

Duckweeds:World’s smallest

flowering plants

Emergent

Vegetation

MarshObl, herbaceous,

Narrow-leaved

T. angustifolia

(invasive)

Cattails

Common Bur-reed

Sparganium eurycarpumLeaves are cattail-like – but keeled

Broad-leaved

Typha latifolia

(native)

Yellow Water Lily

Pickerelweed

Pontedaria cordata

Arrow Arum

Peltandra virginica

6-15 mm

3-6 mm

Marsh/Wet Meadow – obl herbaceous dicots

Ditch Stonecrop

Penthorum sedoides

Tickseed Sunflower

Bidens coronata

Nodding Bur Marigold

Bidens cernuum

Monkeyflower

Mimulus ringens

Purple-leaved Willow Herb

Epilobium coloratum

Swamp Milkweed

Asclepias incarnata

Water Pepper

Polygonum (Persicaria) hydropiper

Lax heads, peppery!

Punctate tepals

Mild Water Pepper

Polygonum hydropiperoiodes

Erect heads, less peppery

Smooth tepalsArrow-leaved Tearthumb

Polygonum sagittatum

Water Purslane

Ludwigia palustris

Marsh/Wet Meadow – obl, dicots, forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous)

Marsh/Wet Meadow – obl, monocots, forbs

Water Plantain

Alisma subcordatum

Arrowleaf, Wapato

Sagittaria latifolia

Marsh/Wet Meadow – obl, non-sedge graminoids

Jointed Rush

Juncus articulatus

Soft Rush

Juncus effusus

Rice Cut Grass

Leersia oryzoides

Marsh/Wet Meadow – facW, shade-intolerant forbs

Boneset

Eupatorium perfoliatum

Spotted Joe-Pye Weed

Eutrochium (Eupatorium) maculatum

Marsh/Wet Meadow – facW invasives

Purple Loosestrife (facW+)

Lythrum salicaria

Reed Canary Grass (facW+)

Phalaris arundinaceae

Giant Reed (facW)

Phragmites australis

stolons

Sedges - Carex

Sedge meadow at Irwin prairie, part of Ohio’s Oak Openings region

Sedge family – Cyperaceae – includes these genera (among others):Cyperus – nut grass or umbrella sedgeEleocharis - spikerushScirpus - bulrushSchoenoplectus – bulrush or tuleCarex – sedge

Cyperus strigosus

Eleocharis obtusaBlunt spikerush

Scirpus cyperinuswoolgrass

SchoenoplectustabernaemontaniSoftstem bulrush

•Carex is a large genus,

•over 1500 spp. worldwide,

•~150 spp. in Ohio – all but 2 are native

•~50 Ohio spp. are listed (E, T, P)

Carex albolutescens Pale Straw Sedge P1991 Carex atlantica ssp. capillacea Howe's Sedge P1969 Carex lasiocarpa Slender Sedge P1991 Carex projecta Necklace Sedge T1997 Carex straminea Straw Sedge P

Carex brevior, Tufted Fescue Sedge........................ T Carex brunnescens, Brownish Sedge....................... E Carex bushii, Bush’s Sedge....................................... T Carex cephaloidea (C. sparganioides var. cephaloidea), Thin-leaved Sedge …………….……..P Carex complanata, Flattened Sedge…………………..... A Carex conoidea, Field Sedge..................................... T Carex crinita var. brevicrinis, Short-fringed Sedge… T Carex crus-corvi, Raven-foot Sedge.......................... P Carex cryptolepis, Little Yellow Sedge...................... P Carex decomposita, Cypress-knee Sedge................. E Carex deweyana, Dewey’s Sedge............................. X Carex diandra, Lesser Panicled Sedge....................... T Carex disperma, Two-seeded Sedge......................... E Carex echinata (C. cephalantha), Little Prickly Sedge. E Carex flava, Yellow Sedge......................................... P Carex formosa, Handsome Sedge............................. X Carex garberi, Garber’s Sedge.................................. E

A short section of the 2010-2011 Ohio listed sedge species; complete listed Ohio plants athttp://www.dnr.state.oh.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=3jh%2fhJglXf8%3d&tabid=2010

Listed sedges in Lorain County

Carex flava, often found in fens

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=3jh/hJglXf8=&tabid=2010

•Well represented in boreal and wetland habitats

•Sedge meadows grazed by moose, deer

•Fed on by waterfowl, grazed by rodents

•Indicators of habitat (e.g. C. prasinaindicates groundwater, C. buxbaumiiindicates high pH soils, C. bromoides delineates vernal pools)

Carex buxbaumii

Botanivcal drawings, where noted, are from

Braun, E.L. Monocotyledonae. OSU Press. 1967

And

Mohlenbrock, R. Sedges: Carex. S. Illinois Univ.

Press. 1999 From Mohlenbrock

•Leaves are 3-ranked•Stems are ~triangular “sedges have edges”)•Leaves often a shallow “w” in cross section•Flowers subtended by a single scale

Carex floral structure

•Flowers are unisexual

•Male and female flowers are borne on the same plant (monoecious)

•Male flowers are simply 2 or 3 anthers subtended by a bract called a staminate scale

•Female flower is a pistil within an envelope called a perigynium, which is subtended by a pistillate (a.k.a. carpellate) scale

•The ovary develops into an achene

Staminate flower and scale

Pistillate flower and scale

scale

style

perigynium

2 or 3 stigmas

achene

Achene and perigynium of Carex comosa

If there are 2 stigmas, achene is flat (lenticular)

C. Tribuloides, C. sparganioides, and C. roseadetails from Mohlenbrock

If there are 3 stigmas, the achene is 3-sided (trigonous)

Carex floral arrangement

•Male and female flowers borne on the same plant (monoecious)

•Flowers are grouped together in clusters called spikes

•The collection of spikes is called an inflorescence

•Male and female flowers in some species are borne on separate staminate and pistillate spikes

•Pistillate spikes usually below staminate and usually more than one

•Staminate spikes are usually terminal, and may be single or multiple

Carex comosa

Some carices ( plural of carex) with separate male and female spikes (from Braun, Monocotyledonae)

Carex stricta in anthesis (full bloom)The fluffy terminal spikes are staminateAnd are subtended by the slimmer pistillate spikesBut note the pistillate spike that have staminate flowers at their tips (androgynous)

•Male and female flowers in some species are borne in the same spike

•If the male flowers are above the female, the arrangement is androgynous (ando = male; gyn = female)

Carex squarrosa

C. shortiana

C. tribuloides

•If the staminate flowers are at the base of the spike, it is gynecandrous

From Mohlenbrock

Features of perigynia that may or may not be present

Teeth

Beak

Nerves (veins)

pubescence

Features of pistillate (carpellate) scales

that may or may not be present

Awn

Midrib

Hyaline margin

(thin, whitish, ~translucent tissue)

C. crinita

From Braun

Culm structure

A culm is the stem of a graminoid plant

Culms may bear leaves, bracts, and flowers

Leaves are composed of a blade

Whose juncture with the sheath

Is called a ligule

Sheaths may be veined, hyaline,

and/or cross-puckered

The “leaf” immediately subtending an

inflorescence is called a bract

From Mohlenbrock

Marsh/Wet Meadow – obl, shade intolerant, sedge family, non-Carex

Sodt-stemmed Bulrush

Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani

Stalked Bulrush

Scirpus pedicellatus

Woolgrass

Scirpus cyperinus

Green Bulrush

Scirpus atrovirens

Blunt Spikerush

Eleocharis obtusa

achenes

Wet Meadow – obl, Carex (sedge)

Carex lurida

Carex vulpinoidea

Carex stipata

Wet Meadow and Swamp – obl, somewhat shade tolerant, Carex

Carex comosa

Carex lacustris

Carex stricta

Forested Wetlands (swamps) – trees

Red Maple

Acer rubrum

Freeman Maple

Acer freemani

Lobes > halfway

Hybrid or separate species?

Silver maple

Acer saccharinum

upturned twigs

Pumpkin Ash, Fraxinus profunda

Leaflets hairy beneath, fruit wing

7-10 mm broad

Green Ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica

Leaflets 7, ~petiolate; samara wing

4.5-6.6 mm broad


Black Ash, Fraxinus nigra

Leaflets usually 9, sessile,

axils with rusty hairs


Swamp White Oak (facW+)

Quercus bicolorBur Oak (fac-)

Quercus macrocarpa

Pin Oak

Quercus palustris


Black Willow (facW+)

Salix nigraAmerican Elm (facW-)

Ulmus americana

Forested / Shrub/Scrub Wetlands - Shrubs

Buttonbush (obl)

Cephalanthus occidentalis

Silky Dogwood (facW)

Cornus amomum

Red-osier Dogwood, Cornus sericea

Pith of young twigs white, 4-5 bold leaf veins

Fruit white or lead-colored;

Twigs and pedicels red

Pith brown; fruit blue;

lf veins less bold;

pedicels not red

Shrub/Scrub Wetlands (swamps) - Shrubs

Winterberry (facW+)

Ilex verticillata

Highbush Blueberry (facW-)

Vaccinium corymbosum


Swamp Rose

Rosa palustris

Multiflora Rose (facU)

Rosa multiflora

Stipule fringed

Stipule entire

Shrub/Scrub Wetlands (swamps) – FacW Shrubs; saturated soils

Black Currant

Ribes americana

Swamp Dewberry

Rubus hispidus

Runs along ground

glands


Pussy Willow (facW)

Salix discolor

Sandbar Willow (obl)

Salix exigua

Pussy Willow gall

Female ament Male aments

stipule

Shrub/Scrub Wetlands (swamps) – Shrubs; inundated to saturatedPoison Sumac (obl)

Toxicodendron vernix

Common Elderberry (facW-)

Sambucus canadensis

Swamps – obl shade-tolerant forbs

Water Parsnip

Sium suave

Swamp Dock

Rumex verticillatus

Turtlehead

Chelone glabra

Bulb-bearing Water Hemlock

Cicuta bulbifera; deadly poisonous

bulb

Marsh Marigold

Caltha palustris

Swamps – obl shade-tolerant forbs

indicative of groundwater

Skunk Cabbage

Symplocarpus fouteidus

Swamps – obl shade-tolerant forbs; wet soil

Moneywort (non-native)

Lysimachia nummularia

Ground cover on moist bare soilWater Horehound

Lycopus americana

Lvs deeply lobed

Stalked Water Horehound

Lycopus rubellus

Calyx > nutlet

Northern Bugleweed

Lycopus uniflorus

Calyx ~ nutlet

Swamps – facW+ shade tolerant forbs; wet soil

Cardinal Flower

Lobelia cardinalis

False Nettle

Boehmeria cylindrica

Mad-dog Skullcap

Scutellaria lateriflora

Great Lobelia

Lobelia siphilitica

Swamps – facW+ shade tolerant forbs; wet soil

Marsh Blue Violet

Viola cucullata

Darker center, clavate “beard” hairs

Purple Cress

Cardamine douglassii

Swamps – facW shade-tolerant forbs; wet soil

Pale Touch-me-not

Impatiens pallida

Spotted Touch-me-not

Impatiens capensis

Impatiens cotyledon

Fringed Loosestrife

Lysimachia ciliata

Clearweed

Pilea pumila

Swamps – obl shade-tolerant grasses; inundated/wet soil

Floating Manna Grass

Glyceria septentrionalis

Fowl Manna Grass

Glyceria striata

Leaves 2-ranked, step-like

Swamps – facW shade-tolerant grasses; wet soil

Wood Reed

Cinna arundinacea

White Grass

Leerisa virginica

Riverbak Wild Rye

Elymus riparius

awn

Carex lupulina

Carex crinita

Carex prasina

Indicator of groundwater

Swamp – obl Carex (Sedges)

Carex bromoides

Carex grayi

Carex tribuloides

Swamp – facW+ Carex (Sedges)

Swamps – facW ferns

tufts

Spinulose Woodfern (fac+)

Dryopteris carthusiana

Sensitive Fern

Onoclea sensibilis

Cinnamon Fern

Osmunda cinnamomea

Swamps – ferns

Marsh Fern (facW+)

Thelypteris palustris

Royal Fern (obl)

Osmunda regalis

Bogs

Carex canescens

Round-leaved Sundew

Drosera rotundifolia

Pitcher Plant

Sarracenia purpurea

Sphagnum moss sp.

wetland plants big swamp

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