Pickerelweed

Pontederia cordata

Weed Description
An erect, emerged aquatic perennial with attractive purple flowers. Pickerelweed is a weed of ponds, lakes, ditches, and streams that is found throughout the southeastern United States.

Leaves
Leaves are variable in shape from lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate to triangular. Leaves have heart-shaped bases, are thick, have parallel veins, may reach 120 mm in width and range from 6 to 12 inches long. Leaves occur on long petioles.

Flowers
Flowers occur on the upper 2 to 6 inches of erect leafless stems. Individual flowers are blue to purple in color and somewhat hairy.

Fruit
An utricle, approximately 1/4 inch long.

Roots
Rhizomes and a fibrous root system.

Identifying Characteristics
The relatively narrow, lanceolate-ovate to triangular leaves and attractive purple flowers on the ends of erect stems helps to distinguish pickerelweed from most other aquatic plants. However, prior to flowering the leaves of pickerelweed may be mistaken for some of the arrowheads like Long-beaked Arrowhead (Sagittaria australis), but these weeds have leaves with lobes unlike the heart-shaped bases of pickerelweed.

Office of Programs

University of Missouri

Pickerelweed

Pontederia cordata