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Wildflowers and Other Plants of Iowa Wetlands
By Sylvan T. Runkel, Dean M. Roosa, Thomas Rosburg, Holly Carver University of Iowa Press
Copyright © 2014 The University of Iowa Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60938-297-1
CHAPTER 1
Terrestrial Flowering Herbs
Skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Nutt.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: collard, meadow cabbage, pole cat weed, pole weed, skunk weed, swamp cabbage
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Symplocarpus: from Greek, meaning "connected fruits," from the way its fruits are arranged
Foetidus: from Latin, meaning "foul-smelling," characteristic of the plant when any part is crushed
Arum family: Araceae
Skunk cabbage is found on humus-rich soil in wet woodlands and seeps in the eastern one-third of Iowa, with the southernmost site being in Muscatine County. It is widespread in the northeastern United States. Its flowers appear from mid February into April.
One of our earliest-blooming plants, skunk cabbage often flowers before the snow is gone. Leaves emerge after the spathe, persist into September, then quickly decay. The leaves are heart-shaped at the bases and are massive — achieving a length of 2 feet and nearly as wide. The smooth margins and thick, pale ribs remind one of cabbage leaves. Several leaves, usually six to eight per plant, stand in a tight cluster beside the spathe. The long petioles have deep grooves on the upper side.
The fleshy spathe, a distinctive mottled brown and yellow-green, emerges tightly closed. A slit-like opening widens to give a seashell shape perhaps 6 inches high and half as wide. Within the spathe stands a knobby, inch-high spadix covered with bright yellow anthers of the tiny flowers. Flies and other insects, attracted by the fetid odor or the warmth, provide pollination. The spadix enlarges to a spongy mass with individual fruits just beneath the surface. As it decays, the spadix leaves a pile of pebble-like seeds on the soil surface.
The perennial root system consists of a large upright rhizome with numerous rootlets.
As rapid cellular expansion begins in the flowers, accelerated respiration maintains a more-or-less constant temperature in surrounding plant tissues for as long as two weeks — as much as 30 degrees Celsius above ambient air temperature even when air temperatures drop as low as–14 degrees Celsius. By some still-unknown mechanism, respiration rate increases as air temperature decreases. Other members in the same family produce similar heat but only for a few hours and not at such low temperatures.
Roots and young leaves of skunk cabbage served as food for the Iroquois. Drying or thorough cooking decreases the concentration of calcium oxalate. Careful identification is necessary to avoid confusion with the poisonous Indian poke, Veratrum viride, which resembles skunk cabbage and may be known by the same common name. The Meskwaki applied rootlets to ease toothache. They also used crushed leaf petioles as a wet dressing for bruises. The Menomini used a tea of the rootlets to stop external bleeding. Winnebago and Dakota used the plant to treat asthma. Some Native Americans inhaled the sharp odor of crushed leaves as a treatment for headache.
Until late in the nineteenth century, pioneers used skunk cabbage to treat respiratory problems, rheumatism, dropsy, ringworm, skin sores, and muscle spasms.
Marsh marigold
Caltha palustris L.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: bitter flowers, boots, bull flower, capers, cow lily, cowslip, crazy Bet, drum hards, king's cup, meadow boots, soldier's buttons, water boots, water goggles, water gowan, yellow marsh marigold
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Caltha: from the old Greek, and later Latin, meaning "chalice" or "cup"
Palustris: from Latin, meaning "of the marsh," in reference to where the plant is normally found
Buttercup family: Ranunculaceae
Marsh marigold is found from Labrador and Alaska south to New England, South Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, and Nebraska. In Iowa, it is found mostly in the northern two-thirds of the state on wet soils of marshes, woodlands, seeps, and stream edges. Blooming time is April and May.
A soft, spongy perennial root system with masses of fine rootlets gives rise to bunches of stout juicy stems, mostly growing erect to 2 feet tall.
The stems are hollow and furrowed, giving an angular appearance. Upper parts of the stem are usually branched. The smooth glossy lower leaves have long petioles. They are kidney-shaped to broadly heart-shaped, measuring as much as 8 inches across. Upper leaves are smaller, often with short petioles. The leaves are smooth and dark green with wavy margins but no teeth. The veins of the leaves are conspicuous.
Bright yellow flowers up to 1-1/2 inches across may put on a spectacular display in April and May. The flower has no petals but five to nine colorful sepals. Each sepal is broadly oval in shape. Together they form a shallow cup surrounding numerous stamens.
In early medicine, the plant was used to treat dropsy, anemia, convulsions, and coughing. A drop of juice was squeezed daily on a wart to cause its disappearance. Indians used the plant to treat colds, diseases of women, and scrofulous sores. Leaves, gathered in the spring before the flowers bloom and thoroughly cooked to destroy a toxic alkaloid, were widely used as greens by northern Indians and pioneers. Livestock have been poisoned by eating excessively of the plants when other forage was not available. Flower buds were pickled and considered a delicacy. Blossoms have been used to make wine and were also a source of yellow dye.
In Irish folklore, this species took on extra significance on May Day when witches and fairies were supposed to be particularly active. Bunches of marsh marigold, known as mayflower, were hung over doorways to protect fertility of cattle.
The "marigold" term probably comes from an old Anglo-Saxon term meaning "horse blister." The common name in parts of England is horse blob, "blob" being dialect for "blister."
The term "cowslip" is probably from "cow slop," indicating that the plant grows better where the cows have dropped their dung.
Spring cress
Cardamine bulbosa (Schreb.) BSP.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: bittercress, bulbous bittercress, bulbous cress
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Cardamine: from the Greek word kardamon, used by Dioscorides for some now-unknown species of cress
Bulbosa: meaning "bulbous," referring to the tuberous base of the plant
Mustard family: Brassicaceae (Cruciferae)
Spring cress is a perennial plant of springs, bottomland woods, Carex swales, and edges of marshes and seeps. It is distributed over most of the eastern United States. In Iowa it is frequent to common in the eastern two-thirds of the state. It blooms in mid April to early June.
The stem is erect, rarely branched, smooth, and may achieve a height of a foot and a half, generally less. The basal leaves are long-petioled and oval to round. The upper stem leaves are generally sessile and around 2 inches long. The lower stem leaves may have petioles. The lower leaves may be paddle- shaped; the upper are triangular with large teeth. The flowers are white, up to 1/2 inch across. The fruits are slender, up to an inch long, and narrow toward the end to a conspicuous tip. The perennial rootstock bears tubers.
The white flowers of this species are sufficiently inconspicuous that it is not sought as a popular spring wildflower. Its early blooming period means it is often the only splash of color in the early wetland environment.
The tops make a good salad and the rootstocks may be eaten throughout the year. The rootstock imparts a taste of mild horseradish. In fact, the bulbous rootstock can be grated and mixed with vinegar and used as a substitute for horseradish. The young stems have this same taste; the older stems are too coarse or strong to be of use as greens.
Another cress, watercress in the genus Nasturtium, is a member of this family and is valued for tasty salads. Bitter-cress (Cardamine pensylvanica), also called our native watercress, is similar to the common watercress that is naturalized from Europe and has similar tastes and uses. Purple cress (Cardamine douglassii) blooms even earlier than spring cress. It likes cold, springy sites but also thrives in wet sand.
Bogbean
Menyanthes trifoliata L.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: bog buckbean, buckbean
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Menyanthes: this name was used by Theophrastus and is derived from menyein, "disclosing," and anthos, "a flower," later applied to this genus
Trifoliata: meaning "three-leaved," from the arrangement of the leaves
Buckbean family: Menyanthaceae (sometimes placed in the Gentianaceae)
Bogbean is a perennial herb with a thick, creeping rhizome. It ranges from Labrador to Alaska, south to Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, and Wyoming, with a single site in Missouri — although the population at this latter site may now be extirpated. In Iowa it is found in shallow water of marshes and fens. It is known by recent records from Allamakee, Buchanan, Cerro Gordo, Dickinson, Franklin, Muscatine, and Wright counties. It is in bloom in May.
The overall height of this species is up to 1-1/2 feet, growing in small colonies. The leaves are long-stalked, with sheathing leaf bases, and divided into three oval to elliptic leaflets that may be 3 inches long.
The flowers are white, sometimes tinged with pink, and occur in a dense cluster at the tip of the naked stalk. Individual blossoms are about 3/4 inch broad, funnel-shaped, with five sepals and five petals that are densely covered by hairs along the margin.
Since bogbean is grazed only in late summer when other fodder is in short supply, it is perhaps avoided due to the presence of the glucoside menyanthin. The dried and powdered rhizomes have been extensively used to make bread by the Eskimo and natives of northern Eurasia. The rhizome of bogbean has a reputation as an invigorating tonic, and the leaves were used as a substitute for hops in brewing beer.
The Menomini used this plant as a medicinal, though knowledge of the precise use has been lost. The pioneers used it as a purgative, to promote menstruation, and as a tonic. If taken in large doses, it can be used as a vermifuge and emetic.
Water parsnip
Sium suave Walt.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: hemlock water parsnip, wane-migons, water parsley
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Sium: from sion, the Greek name of a plant living in a marshy habitat
Suave: meaning "fragrant" or "sweet"
Parsley family: Apiaceae
Water parsnip is widespread in North America, growing from Newfoundland to British Columbia and south to Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. In Iowa, it is most common in the lakes area of the northwest, where it is found at the edges of marshes, in sedge meadows, and in wet prairies. It blooms July through August.
This robust perennial may achieve a height of 6 feet. The stem is stout, hollow, smooth, and strongly corrugated, arising from a fibrous root system. The leaves are variable — those of the submerged rosette are two to three times compound; stem leaves are once-divided and reduced toward the top. When the lower leaves are entirely underwater, they are finely dissected and thread-like. This is particularly true early in the growing season.
The flowers are small, approximately 1/8 inch across, with five short petals. The entire umbel may be 5 inches across and occurs at the tips of branches or in upper leaf axils. The fruit is small with prominent ribs.
This plant may be confused with the deadly water hemlock but has singly compound stem leaves and corrugated stems. While the plant has been suspected of being poisonous, the toxic principle has not been described.
Canadian Indians are reported to have eaten the roots; this may be true since the plant is related to an edible European species, Sium sisarum, commonly called skirret. One of the early names of water parsnip was Sium cicutaefolium because it was suspected of being poisonous like water hemlock, Cicuta maculata. The seeds of members of the genus were smoked over a fire by the Ojibwa to drive away the evil spirit Sokenau, who gives them bad luck when they go hunting. While the roots are reported to be edible in late fall, the leaves and stems are poisonous and have reportedly killed cattle. Because of the similarity of this plant to water hemlock, it is suggested it not be eaten. Both are found in similar habitats, which adds to the possibility of mistaken identity.
Water parsnip is a fairly frequent plant in shallow, standing water and one that serious students of wetlands should learn to recognize.
Tall cotton-grass
Eriophorum angustifolium Honck.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: bog cotton, cotton-grass, hare's tail, tawny cotton- grass
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Eriophorum: from Greek erion, "wool" or "cotton," and phoros, "bearing," from the appearance of the heads of fruits
Angustifolium: meaning "narrow-leaved"
Sedge family: Cyperaceae
The range of tall cotton-grass is from Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to Massachusetts, Indiana, northern Illinois, northern Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Oregon where its principal habitats are peatlands — bogs and fens. It is also found in Eurasia. In Iowa, it grows in the northeast quarter of the state in fens, bogs, sedge meadows, and wet prairies.
The flowering time of this species is mid June, with fruits persisting into late summer.
This species grows to about 3 feet tall, with grass-like leaves at the base and up the stem. The leaves are long and narrow, generally less than 1/4 inch wide and flat below the middle, triangular-channeled above the middle. The two to three leaves just below the inflorescence are short and purple at the base. The inflorescence consists of two to ten spikelets on short peduncles and appears as a dense cluster at the tip of the stem. The bristles under the achenes are white to creamy and give the appearance of a ball of cotton on a slender stem.
There are about a dozen species of cotton-grass in the northern hemisphere. Of these, three occur in Iowa. Tall cotton-grass is similar to slender cotton-grass, Eriophorum gracile, now known only from the bog at Pilot Knob and a sedge meadow in Dickinson County. The leaves of slender cotton-grass are shorter and not as wide as the present species and have a sheath of the upper leaves longer than the blade. E. virginicum was recently discovered in a fen in Buchanan County.
E. callitrix, a close relative of E. angustifolium, was used by the Flambeau Ojibwa to check bleeding. Some pioneers used it as an astringent because of its tannic properties.
Tall cotton-grass is difficult to grow under cultivation but a delight to find in the wild.
Giant manna grass
Glyceria grandis S. Wats.
OTHER COMMON NAMES: American manna grass, rattlesnake grass, reed meadow grass, tall meadow grass, water meadow grass, white spear grass
Wetland status, 2013: OBL
Glyceria: from the Greek glyceros or glukeros, meaning "sweet," an allusion to the taste of the grain
Grandis: meaning "large," in reference to the size of the plant
Grass family: Poaceae (Gramineae)
Stout, clustered giant manna grass grows from Newfoundland to Alaska and south to Virginia, Tennessee, Iowa, and Oregon. In Iowa, it is found in shallow water along streams and marsh edges in the northern half of the state. It is in bloom in late May or early June, and its seeds are shed in August.
This perennial grass may grow to 5 feet in height with a large, spreading panicle up to a foot wide. The leaves may be 1/2 inch wide, the panicle nearly a foot long. The sheaths are rough and overlapping. The lemma is purplish and has seven nearly parallel veins. These parallel veins on the lemma, as seen under a hand lens, help separate the manna grasses from other grasses.
There are four species of Glyceria in Iowa, and all grow in or near water. Glyceria borealis grows sparingly in the lakes area of northwest Iowa; G. septentrionalis is a southern species found mainly in southeast Iowa; and G. striata grows statewide and is similar to giant manna grass. All are known to be used by waterfowl and provide cover at the edges of marshes. The roots were used by Flambeau Ojibwa as a female remedy. For some unknown reason, they called this plant a fern!
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Excerpted from Wildflowers and Other Plants of Iowa Wetlands by Sylvan T. Runkel, Dean M. Roosa, Thomas Rosburg, Holly Carver. Copyright © 2014 The University of Iowa Press. Excerpted by permission of University of Iowa Press.
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