The wetlands are now places to ponder the natural deaths of plants that we’ve enjoyed all summer. The green cattail blades are stiffening and spotting and turning yellow, brown, and gray; they’ll die obstinately standing. The petals of the white fragrant water lilies silently slid into the water and disappeared a while ago, but their “pads” remain and are breaking out in multicolored rashes, tearing, and dissolving.
The arrow arum, the corps de ballet of the ponds, deserve special attention, as always. These plants are named after the large arrowhead-shaped leaves at the end of their long stalks. Those leaves try to fly in the wind like paper airplanes and cause the plants to dance in unison.
But, as the arrow arum stems weaken with old age, the weight of their large leaves bends them closer and closer to the water until the water gently takes the leaves:
Then, as the leaves sink, the plant stems curve gracefully like swans feeding:
More specifically, arrow arum (Peltandra virginica) grows to be about three feet in length and its leaves can be up to 18 inches in length and about 6 inches wide. Its spring pods contain large, green seeds that wood ducks and black ducks love. Some Native Americans cooked these seeds and ate them like peas. Arrow arum also is known as green arrow, tuckahoe, and duck corn.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 20, 21, and 23, 2023.)