Decodon verticillatus (Water-willow)

Decodon verticillatus (L.) Elliott

Water-willow, swamp-loosestrife, water willow, waterwillow

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Myrtales	Includes myrtles, leadwoods, loosestrifes, pomegranates, evening primroses, many others
Family	Lythraceae	Loosestrife family, also Includes henna, pomegranates, crape myrtles, others
Genus	Decodon	From Greek deca, “ten,” and odous, “tooth,” for the ten prominent stamens
Species	verticillatus	Whorled

About plant names...

Waterwillow is a native to eastern North America. It is found in swamps and shallow water, ditches, or along pond, stream, or lake edges. Soil must be mucky, peaty, or sandy.

Plants: These shrubs may reach up to 8' (2.4 m) in height. Though classified as shrubs, these plants straddle the border between shrubs and herbaceous plants. The underwater parts of the plants persist through the winter, but the above water parts die back. Long stems are unbranched or with few branches. Stems above the water line are somewhat angular. They are pale green to red in color, and woody near the base. When stem tips hit moist ground, they root, forming clonal colonies over time.

Leaves: Lanceolate, opposite or in whorls of 3 or 4. Each leaf is up to 6" (15 cm) × 2" (5 cm), smooth on top, sometimes hairy below, on short petioles (stalks). The leaf has smooth edges and tapers to a point.

Flowers: Flowers are variously described as somewhere between purple to rose pink to red. Each flower has five to seven crinkly petals, and five long stamens and five more shorter ones. They appear in clusters at leaf axils, from June to July. Each flower cluster is about 2" (5 cm) around.

Fruits: Spherical dark brown capsules about ¼" (6.3 mm) around contain many reddish seeds.

Online References:

Decodon verticillatus on illinoiswildflowers.info

Decodon verticillatus at Minnesota Wildflowers

Decodon verticillatus on gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org

Decodon verticillatus at the University of Florida IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

Decodon verticillatus on Wikipedia

Decodon verticillatus on michiganflora.net

Decodon verticillatus on wisflora.herbarium.wisc.edu

8/13/2017 · Burges Pond, Westford, Massachusetts
≈ 8 × 5" (20 × 13 cm)

Decodon verticillatus (L.) Elliott var. laevigatus Torr. & A. Gray

Decodon verticillatus (L.) Elliot var. laevigatus Torr. & A. Gray

Decodon verticillatus description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 1 Jan 2021.

9/28/2013 · Wild Gardens of Acadia, Acadia Naitonal Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
≈ 12 × 8" (31 × 21 cm)

9/28/2013 · Wild Gardens of Acadia, Acadia Naitonal Park, Bar Harbor, Maine
≈ 11 × 7" (28 × 18 cm)

8/13/2017 · Burges Pond, Westford, Massachusetts
≈ 10 × 7" (24 × 16 cm)

Range:

About this map...