Specimen #30 (Hoorah for me to reach 30!)
Yellow Pond Lily
AKA Spatterdock
Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. ssp. advena (Aiton) Kartesz & Gandhi
Photo by me, Long Lake, WI
My kids and I canoed every day for a week in Wisconsin (WI). We passed many pond lilies and water lilies. Fish like to hang out with these plants. Pond lilies are easy to identify since their leaves have are elongated and have a visible notch. And their petals are really thick.
I read at a website that the rhizomes can be eaten and the seeds popped like corn. Another website says: "Native Americans consumed the starchy rootstocks as boiled or roasted vegetables and harvested the seed for grinding into flour. There are some accounts of the root being powdered and used as a poultice."
Since I saw these plants in WI, I thought it appropriate to search for a WI website. The Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point lists the following dry facts:
| Status: | Special Concern |
| Plant: | floating, perennial aquatic; from large, up to 3" thick, spongy rhizome |
| Flower: | yellow, 7 or more-parted, 2" wide, cup-shaped, 6 sepals, opening during the day and closing at night; solitary; blooms June-Aug. |
| Leaf: | most held above the water; 8"-16" long, with a rounded tip, the base arrow-shaped with a triangular notch; stalks round or oval |
| Habitat: | sun, shade; ponds, streams, water less than 7' deep; in sediment soil |
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