Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

water shield

Brasenia schreberi

Description:

Aquatic plant with floating leaf blades. Corolla purple.

Habitat:

Freshwater pond.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

3 Comments

Hi all,

Thank you for your comments. This plant is indeed growing naturally (wild) in Elk Neck State Park and is native to Maryland. It was in a freshwater area near and separated by a small dike from the Chesapeake Bay. It has a very gooey, mucilage that surrounds all underwater parts, making it slippery and difficult to pick up.

Regardless of whether or not its native, it can become a problem ("invasive") in certain areas due to overgrowth.

It is a relative of water-lily, and is similar with its floating leaves. The flowers are much smaller, however.

It

TKBotting
TKBotting 11 years ago

I have this stuff all over the lake where I vacation. I'm curious to know about it too.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 11 years ago

Welcome to Project Noah. This looks interesting stuff. Is it natural there; introduced, a problem?

Maryland, USA

Spotted on Jun 17, 2012
Submitted on Aug 17, 2012

Related Spottings

Water Shield Water shield Water Shield Watershield

Nearby Spottings

White-tailed Deer Snapping Turtle Japanese Beetle Eastern Pondhawk
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team