Buckbean
Menyanthes trifoliata · Aquatic plants
Flowers or seeds · Photo: Michael Hansen / CC0
Also called Bogbean
How to identify Buckbean
- Three large leaflets like a giant clover
- Fringed white to pink flowers
- Thick creeping rhizomes in the water
- Leaves rise on long stalks
Similar plants
Clovers grow on dry ground and are much smaller.
Growth profile
| Growing season | Flowers May and June soon after ice out, leaves through summer and rhizomes overwinter. |
|---|---|
| Starts growing | About 40 to 45 F water |
| Light | Full sun |
| Depth | Saturated mats to about 2 feet of water |
| How it spreads | Rhizomes and seeds |
| Habitat | Bogs, fens, pond and lake margins and floating mats in cold water. |
Why it matters in a lake
Rhizomes creep out over the water to build floating mats.
Where it is found
- Idaho: Occasional
- Oregon: Occasional
- Wyoming: Occasional
Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Asterales |
| Family | Menyanthaceae |
| Scientific name | Menyanthes trifoliata |
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