What plant is that?
Top left: Katja Schulz, CC BY-NC 2.0, via https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/peltandra-virginica/
Top right: Cathy DeWitt CC BY-NC 4.0, via https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/peltandra-virginica/
Bottom left: Courtesy Alan Cressler, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Bottom right: Nelson CC BY-NC 4.0, via https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/peltandra-virginica/
The mystery plant for January 2022 is an aquatic perennial. It can be found in wetlands and marshes from Maine to Minnesota and south to Florida. It grows in clumps of long petioled (12-24 inches) basal leaves which have arrowhead-shaped blades growing 6-20 inches long and 5-12 inches wide. The leaves are smooth along the margins. In northern areas the plants are deciduous but along the Gulf Coast they are evergreen. The flowers grow in a spike along a small crowded spadix. The inflorescence is 3-6″ in length. It has tiny flowers which are arranged along a cylindrical spadix surrounded by a narrow spathe. The inflorescence is 4-8″ long.
