Native Bog Plants

Growing Conditions

• Bog plants have to contend with hydric soils, which are black, mucky, wet and low in oxygen. Plants adapted to these special conditions are known as hydrophytes. Bogs, low in nutrients, have acidic waters. Bogs are fragile habitats that help regulate the climate by storing large amounts of carbon in peat.

Grasses

• Cotton Grass (aka Candy Grass or Bog Grass) is misnamed, as it's actually a sedge. It has narrow leaves and fluffy seed heads that wave in the wind like balls of cotton.

  Yellow-eyed Grass, also called Bog Yellow-eyed Grass, has Iris-like leaves and tiny yellow flowers from July to September. It grows on the edges of bogs.

Berries

• Cranberry plants grow about 8 inches high with thin wiry stems with small evergreen leaves. This plant produces tart, red berries that have few seeds. Cranberries were once an important source of medicine and food for Native Americans.

  Blueberry plants are also found in bogs. These plants were also harvested by Native Americans and eaten fresh and preserved. Blueberry plants thrive in acidic conditions, flower in spring and are pollinated by bees. They have greenish-brown stems and leaves with hairy veins on the undersides. The bell-shaped flowers are white or pink.

Carnivorous Bog Plants

• Pitcher plants, Sundews and the Horned Bladderwort capture and digest insects. Pitcher plants and sundews capture insects in their large leaves and digest them with the help of certain types of bacteria. Horned Bladderwort uses a suction trap to catch insects below the water's surface.