Wetlands: Plants

Mammals

Birds

Amphibians/Reptiles

Arthropods

Bryophytes/Lichens

Beaked sedge

This is a sod-forming plant ,which grows 0.5 to 1.2 m in height and has grass-like leaves whorled around a solid, three-sided stem. Beaked sedge prefers saturated soils, but can tolerate slight to moderate changes in water levels and soil moisture.

Water birds, shorebirds and wetland-dependent perching birds find shelter and nesting sites among beaked sedge and the associated plant community. Turtles and garter snakes seek refuge from adverse weather conditions and from predators among sedges.

Baltic rush

Baltic rush, also called wire rush, resembles grass and grows 20 to 60 cm tall. A solid round stem grows from an extensive system of creeping root stalks, making it a hardy plant. Numerous flowers grow off a short branch and appear as a brownish cluster attached to one side of the stem.

Elk and white-tailed deer graze on young stems. This rush is used as nesting cover by the ring-necked duck and other water birds, such as the common snipe. Juvenile and adult long-toed salamanders can often be found lurking among clumps of Baltic rush.

Willow

The most common and easily recognized riparian shrub, willow can grow to a height of 12 m. The branches are often reddish to yellowish-brown in colour and the leaves are long, slender and elliptical, with smooth or slightly toothed edges. In early spring, the flowers or catkins emerge with or slightly before the leaves. The female flowers first appear green and then turn into white, cottony seeds.

Willow is an important riparian shrub that provides critical habitat for perching birds, such as warblers and the threatened yellow-breasted chat. It also provides protective cover for a wide variety of water birds, shore birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. This shrub is an essential winter food for moose and other ungulates.

Want to find out about species at risk in wetlands?
Go to Species at Risk

Here are some more representative species in wetlands:

Grasses/Grasslike:
Alkali saltgrass
American bulrush
Baltic rush
Beaked sedge
Cattail
Common spike-rush
Field sedge
Giant wildrye
Hard-stemmed bulrush
Water sedge
Forbs:
Common duckweed
Common mare’s-tail
Greater bladderwort
Lesser spearwort
Shore buttercup
Shrubs:
Chokecherry
Common Snowberry
Red-osier dogwood
Willow spp.
Trees:
Black cottonwood
Trembling Aspen
Willow Spp.

Illustrations:
J.R.Janish reprinted with permission from the University of Washington Press

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