page_title: Pontederia cordata
section_title: Flowers
hierarchical_section_title: Pontederia cordata / Flowers
caption_attribution_description: English: Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), along Rideau River, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
context_page_description: Pontederia cordata, common name pickerelweed or pickerel weed, is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the American continent. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eastern Canada south to Argentina. A few examples include northern rivers, the Everglades and Louisiana.
context_section_description: The plant flowers in late summer.  The purple flowers have yellow markings which may assist in attracting bees for pollination.  Two species known to pollinate the flowers are Melissodes apicatus and Dufourea novaeangliae.
  Once the plant begins to produce seeds, the stem supporting the inflorescence bends to submerge the fruits and seeds. Seeds are dormant at the time of dispersal and will not germinate without stratification for 6–8 weeks.
  The flowers of the species are tristylous, meaning the styles of individual plants occur in three different morphs, with most populations containing all three. Leaf shape, which varies considerably across populations, within populations, and even within individuals, has been the source for many taxonomic synonyms. Like many wetland and aquatic plants, the species can reproduce asexually by means of branching rhizomes, and hence can form large clonal stands.
caption: Pickerelweed near Ottawa, Ontario
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