Menyanthes trifoliata

Sizes available: Bare root (treat each root as a single landscape plug for ordering purposes)

Basics: zones 3-10, 9-12" x 12-24", full sun to part shade, pink buds open to a very pretty white bloom in early to mid summer, must be wet. This is an aquatic species, but can be grown in a good sized tub and will winter over. Water needs to be 3" over the rhizome. Likes acidic, peaty mud.

Common names: Bogbean, Buckbean, Marsh Trefoil

Family: Menyanthaceae

Origin/Distribution: This plant has been around since at least the Middle Miocene Era (Amazing!). It occurs in Asia and Europe as well a North America and it is native to Maine.

Habitat: pond margins, wet woods, fens, bogs

More: Has been used medicinally and the rootstock has been used to make flour or to stretch other grains during times of famine or other emergencies. The leaves are sometimes used in place of hops in beer-making. They are also boiled with honey to make mead. It is sometimes a bitter ingredient in schnapps. Spreads by rhizome and is a good plant for stabilizing wet edges.

Nursery: Kind Earth Growers

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons