Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Sparganium americanum Nutt.
- Family: Burreed (Sparganiaceae)
- Flowering: May-September
- Field Marks: The male and female flowers of the species of Sparganium are borne separately in spherical heads on the same plant. This burreed differs from all others by its dull fruits and unbranched flower clusters.
- Habitat: Sloughs, swamps, slow-flowing streams, usually growing in water.
- Habit: Perennial herb with slender rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, rather stout, smooth, up to 3 feet tall and becoming zigzagged on the flower-bearing stalks.
- Leaves: Elongated, narrow, thickish and spongy, mostly near the base of the plant, some of them overtopping the flower clusters, rounded at the tip, toothless, smooth, up to 1 inch wide.
- Flowers: Male and female flowers borne in separate spherical heads at the ends of the same stem.
- Perianth: Usually 5-parted, scale-like, up to 1/8 inch long.
- Stamens: Usually 5.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Achenes ellipsoid to obovoid, beaked, 1/4-1/2 inch long, brown, dull.
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