Orontium aquaticum Linnaeus. Common name: Golden Club, Bog Torches, Never-wet. Phenology: Feb-May; May-Jul. 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. Distribution: MA and c. NY south to s. FL and west to LA and e. TX, north in the inland to w. NC, KY, and WV, primarily but by no means strictly Coastal Plain.
ID notes: The fresh leaves are unwettable, silvery-glistening when forced under water.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = AqW, C, ETx1, F, FNA22, G, GW1, K4, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, S, S13, Tat, Tx, Va, W, WH3, WV, Spaulding et al (2019). Basionym: Orontium aquaticum L. 1753
Links to other floras: = Orontium aquaticum - FNA22
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL
- Midwest: OBL
- Northcentral & Northeast: OBL
Heliophily ⓘ: 5
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Stemless, emergent perennial found on peaty soil in stagnant water (acidic to calcareous), including in beaver ponds, blackwater streams, swamps, pools in low pocosins, streambeds and tidal freshwater marshes.
Stems:
Leaves: Leaves crowded in a basal cluster and appearing before the separate flowering stalk, floating on water or extended above, long-petiolate, oval to elliptic, 4-12 in. long, with parallel veins, dark blue-green above and often with a waxy bloom that repels water, pale beneath.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers on a separate, elongated, cylindric spadix at the end of a green and white club-like scape, extending above leaves and sometimes leaning; they are numerous, bright yellow, and tiny.
Fruits: Fruits green and embedded in the fleshy spadix.
Comments:
Height: 1-2 ft.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Stemless, emergent perennial found on peaty soil in stagnant water (acidic to calcareous), including in beaver ponds, blackwater streams, swamps, pools in low pocosins, streambeds and tidal freshwater marshes.
stems:
leaves: Leaves crowded in a basal cluster and appearing before the separate flowering stalk, floating on water or extended above, long-petiolate, oval to elliptic, 4-12 in. long, with parallel veins, dark blue-green above and often with a waxy bloom that repels water, pale beneath.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers on a separate, elongated, cylindric spadix at the end of a green and white club-like scape, extending above leaves and sometimes leaning; they are numerous, bright yellow, and tiny.
fruits: Fruits green and embedded in the fleshy spadix.
comments:
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: eastern United States
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