Sparganium americanum
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Photo Courtesy USDA |
USDA |
| Botanical name: | Sparganium americanum |
| Common name: | bur-reed |
| Group: | monocot |
| Family: | Sparganiaceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | to 2' |
| Foliage: | long, linear, grass like leaves, 2 ranked; flowers are spherical, burrlike about 1" in diameter; achenes are beaked |
| Flower: | blooms late June to July; fruits mid July to late September |
| Flowering time: | shallow water, muddy shores of swamps, ponds, streams |
| Habitat: | statewide, most abundant in the Pine Barrens |
| Range in New Jersey: | statewide, most abundant in the Pine Barrens |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc.: | a sedge Stone, in 1910, says "While often erect...this form is often found floating in the more rapid Pine Barren streams, the leaves being considerably elongated..."(159) Monoecious, wind polinated. Seeds are eaten by waterfowl, and other birds muskrats will eat the entire plant. |