WiseAcre Gardens

When is a water lily not a lily? When it’s European Frog Bit.

Hydrocharis morsus-ranae

This plant looks like a miniature water lily with its heart shaped leaves but the small 3 petaled flowers are unlike those of true water lilies. Below the water surface is another major difference, the plant is free floating and the roots dangle beneath it.

European Frog Bit is a samll plant, leaves are 1 – 2 inches wide and the flowers not much more than a 1/2 inch across. Floating alongside Duck Weed you can get an idea of its size.

Although small the leaves make a good landing pad for a dragonfly. Next to the resting aviator you can see the bottom of one of the leaves. The underside is purplish-red and spongy.

Frog-bit is an invasive aquatic plant present in New York, Vermont, Michigan and Ontario. It has two primary means of reproduction. Like many aggressive terrestrial plants it sends out runners and produces daughter plants. Frog bit also forms produces compact winter buds (turions) that sink to the bottom in fall and float back up in spring to grow into new plants. Frog bit can also spread like other aquatic plants by getting stuck on boats and trailers moving from one body of water to another.

Frog Bit prefers still, calm water and multiplies rapidly forming a mat that will blanket the water surface. I missed getting a photo of the duck but you can see the trail it left behind as it swam out of sight.