Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Alismatales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Orontium aquaticum
FAMILY
Araceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Orontium from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Orontium aquaticum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Orontium aquaticum
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 032-02-001:
Orontium aquaticum FAMILY Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Orontium aquaticum
COMMON NAME:
Golden Club, Never-wet, Bog Torches
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_oraq_001_lvd
)
Keith Bradley kab_o_aquaticum_4324
April Lexington County SC
Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve
)
Keith Bradley kab_o_aquaticum_4332
April Lexington County SC
Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm060521_125
May Macon County NC
Highlands Biological Station
Fresh leaves are unwettable, silvery glistening if forced under water, per Weakley's Flora (2012).
COMPARE
aquatic plants
)
JK Marlow jkm060521_131
May Macon County NC
Highlands Biological Station
An erect, conspicuous, golden-yellow clublike spadix (fleshy flower stalk), per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
JK Marlow jkm220517_7851
May Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220517_7855
May Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
Fruits partially embedded in spadix, green to blue-green, per Flora of North America.
)
Frank Holleman fsh_4091
October Greenville County SC
Leaves in a crowded cluster, oval to elliptical, with parallel veins, per Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019).
)
JK Marlow jkm211116_5060
November Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm211116_5062
November Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
Leaves short-tapered to thick stalks 4-12" long, per Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Orontium aquaticum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Orontium aquaticum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Orontium aquaticum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 032-02-001:
Orontium aquaticum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Orontium aquaticum
992
Emergent aquatic (rooted); Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Generally in peaty and stagnant water (acidic to calcareous), such as beaver ponds, blackwater streams, swamps, pools in low pocosins, streambeds in the Piedmont, bogs and swamps in the mountains, tidal freshwater marshes, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Coastal Plain (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal cluster
FLOWER:
Spring
Yellow
Radially symmetrical
Bisexual
Inflorescence a spadix
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p210
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p167
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p184
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p154
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p331
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p474
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p336
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p313
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p121
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p156
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p008
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p364
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p339
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p391
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p004
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p280
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".