Parrot's Feather has feathery blue-green foliage with a velvety sheen that creeps across surfaces of ponds. Its stems can grow from 20 to 60 inches long, and are divided into four to six vivid green segments.Parrot's Feather's lushly textured foliage helps provide shade for the pond and fish. It also provides a hiding place and spawning material for the pond inhabitants.
The most popular and conspicuous use for hibiscus flowers is decorative. Tucked behind a pretty girls ear, or set out as a decorative center piece, the large colorful blooms are ubiquitous in warm weather vacation spots. Hibiscus flowers do not require water, the blooms will stay viable until their time has passed, with or without watering. This flower can be found around almost every Freshwater Biome.
Most species of water lilies have rounded, variously notched, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain many air spaces and float in quiet freshwater habitats. The stalks arise from thick, fleshy, creeping underwater stems that are buried in the mud. The showy, fragrant, solitary flowers are borne at or above the water surface on long stalks that are attached to the underground stems. Each cuplike flower has a spiral arrangement of its numerous petals.
Pickerelweed is a very common and widely recognized native. It occurs throughout Florida and flowers year-round. It is a prolific grower and can cover large areas. Pickerelweed typically grows to about 2 or 3 feet tall. Its leaves are large (up to 5 inches wide) and are usually twice as long. Leaf shapes are variable, but are usually lance-shaped. They may have either a distinctly heart-shaped face or a rounded face. The easiest way to recognize pickerelweed is by its spike of violet-blue flowers. Uncommonly the flowers are white. Many small individual flowers form this flowering spike.
Cattails are wetland plants with a unique flowering spike, flat blade like leaves that reach heights from 3 to 10 feet. They are one of the most common plants in large marshes and on the edge of ponds.
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