Wetland indicators

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the principal federal agency dealing with information on wetlands, has over the years researched species of plants and their probability of being found in wetlands.

A product of this work are wetland indicators, which include five basic designations and options for gradients in between. The implications for landscapers is that the designations can suggest relative moisture requirements for plants. For example, a wetland species will almost certainly require constant moisture, while an upland species can manage with dryer habitats.

Codes have been assigned to many native species. A summary of names and definitions:

OBL - Obligate Wetland. Probably of 99 percent that it occurs naturally in wetlands.

FACW - Faculatitive Wetland. Usually found in wetland, with a probability of 67 to 99 percent, but occasionally is found in non-wetlands.

FAC - Facultative. Equally likely to be found in wetlands or non-wetlands, with a probability of 34 to 66 percent in wetlands.

FACU - Facultative Upland. Usually occurs in non-wetlands, with a probability of 1 to 33 percent of being found in wetlands.

UPL - Oblilgate Upland. Occurs almost always naturally in non-wetlands, probability of 99 percent.

Occasionally found is the indicator "NI," which means insufficient information is available to assign an indicator status.

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The Pennystone project provides information relating to sustainable landscape practices using native species, with emphasis on the northeastern counties of Pennsylvania.

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Commercially available Pocono annuals

Introduction

Criteria for listing the species here are:

  • Availability at least by mail order as seed or live plants from a legitimate nursery in the United States
  • Reported as native to Pennsylvania and identified as being found in Carbon, Monroe, Pike or Wayne Counties, especially in all or several. This suggests the region contains suitable habitat for the species to be successfully grown.

Data presented for each species includes the currently-recognized Latin name, a popular common name, an indication of where the plant is typically found in nature, and wetlands indicators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if available.

Species considered as annuals

Ambrosia artemisiifolia - Common ragweed - Found in fields, roadsides, floodplains; FAC. To 3 feet, yellow flowers in late summer and fall.

Ambrosia trifida - Giant ragweed - Found in fields, roadsides, floodplains; FAC. To 6 feet; greenish-brown flowers in late summer and fall.

Amphicarpaea bracteata - Hog peanut - Found in moist woods and floodplains, to 5 feet, twining. White flowers in fall.

Aureolaria pedicularia - Cut-leaf false-foxglove - Found in dry open woods and edges. To 3 feet, yellow flowers in late summer.

Bidens cernua - Bur-marigold - Found in swamps, wet shores, ditches; OBL. To 36 inches, yellow flowers in late summer and fall.

Bidens frondosa - Beggar-ticks - Found in fields, roadsides and moist open ground; FACW. To 36 inches; orange flowers in late summer and fall.

Blephilia hirsuta - Wood-mint - Found in moist woods and swamps; FACW-. To 30 inches; blue-purple flowers in early summer.

Castillea coccinea - Indian paintbrush - Found in moist meadows on limestone; FAC. 8-28 inches, red/yellow flowers

Chenopodium capitatum - Indian-paint - Found in moist to dry soil, sandy or grassy meadows, thickets, open woods, old fields of clearings in forests. 18-24 inches, red flowers in late summer and early fall.

Conyza canadensis var. canadensis - Horseweed - Found in fields, roadsides, railroad tracks and waste ground; UPL. To 5 feet; white flowers in late summer.

Crotalaria sagittalis - Rattlebox - Found in dry sandy or gravelly soil of woods and old fields, roadsides. to 15 inches; yellow flowers in late summer.

Galium aparine - Bedstraw - Found in woods, stream banks and roadsides; FACU. To 36 inches; greenish-white flowers in spring and early summer.

Gaura biennis - Gaura - Found in moist meadows, floodplains, stream banks, thickets, roadsides; FACU. To 6 feet, white to pink flowers in late summer and fall.

Gentianella quinquefolia - Stiff gentian - Found in moist open woods, springy slopes, stream banks, at higher elevations along the Allegheny front; FAC. 10-30 inches, violet flowers in late summer and fall.

Gentianopsis crinita - Eastern fringed gentian - Found in wet meadows, swamps, fens, stream banks, other moist open sites on calcareous soils; OBL. 24 inches, blue to white flowers in late summer and fall.

Geranium robertianum - Herb-robert - Found in moist wooded rocky slopes and ravines. To 24 inches; pink to purple flowers from spring to fall.

Gnaphalium obtusifolium - Fragrant cudweed - Found in dry pastures, old fields, shale barrens, roadsides. 12-36 inches; gray-white flowers in fall., 12-36 in. Aug-Nov

Hedeoma pulegioides - American pennyroyal - Found in dry fields, pastures, woods and roadsides. 4 to 16 inches; blue flowers in fall.

Impatiens capensis - Jewelweed - Found in moist ground of meadows, swamps, stream banks, open woods. To five feet, yellow-white flowers from spring to fall.

Impatiens pallida - Pale jewelweed - Found in swamps, moist woods and stream banks. To 5 feet; pale yellow flowers from late spring to fall.

Lactuca canadensis var. canadensis - Wild lettuce - Found in meadows, fields, rocky hillsides, roadside banks; FACU. To 7 feet; yellow flowers in fall.

Myosotis laxa - Wild forget-me-not - Found in wet open ground and swamps; OBL. To 15 inches; blue flowers with a yellow center, from spring to fall.

Polanisia dodecandra ssp. dodecandra - Clammyweed - Found in dry, sandy or gravelly alluvial soils; FACU. To 20 inches; purple and white flowers, late summer.

Polygonum sagittatum - Tearthumb - Found in bogs, marshes, wet meadows; OBL. Vine like, 3 to 6 feet tall; pink to whitish flowers in fall.

Ranunculus abortivus var. abortivus - Small-flowered crowfoot - Found in rich low woods, low fields, moist waste places, meadows, fallow fields, and clearings; FACW-. To 30 inches; yellow flowers in summer.

Ranunculus pensylvanicus - Bristly crowfoot - Found in stream banks, bogs, moist clearings, depressions in woodlands; OBL. 8-20 inches, yellow flowers in summer.

Sicyos angulatus - Bur cucumber - Found in moist open soil, stream banks, roadsides, waste ground; FACU. Stem to 25 feet, white flowers in summer.

Triodanis perfoliata var. perfoliata - Venus's looking-glass - Found in roadsides, woods edges, fields, dry waste ground. 6-12 inches; purple flowers in summer.