pick·er·el·weed

(pĭk′ər-əl-wēd′, pĭk′rəl-)

A freshwater plant (Pontederia cordata) of eastern North America, having heart-shaped leaves with long petioles and spikes of violet-blue flowers.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pickerelweed

(ˈpɪkərəlˌwiːd; ˈpɪkrəl-)

(Plants) any of several North American freshwater plants of the genus Pontederia, esp P. cordata, having arrow-shaped leaves and purple flowers: family Pontederiaceae

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pick•er•el•weed

(ˈpɪk ər əlˌwid, ˈpɪk rəl-)

n.

any of several North American aquatic plants of the genus Pontederia, esp. P.cordata, with spikes of blue flowers, common in shallow fresh waters.

[1645–55]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

pickerelweed - American plant having spikes of blue flowers and growing in shallow water of streams and ponds

pickerel weed, Pontederia cordata, wampee

genus Pontederia, Pontederia - pickerelweed

aquatic plant, hydrophyte, hydrophytic plant, water plant - a plant that grows partly or wholly in water whether rooted in the mud, as a lotus, or floating without anchorage, as the water hyacinth

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

By the way there came up a shower, which compelled me to stand half an hour under a pine, piling boughs over my head, and wearing my handkerchief for a shed; and when at length I had made one cast over the pickerelweed, standing up to my middle in water, I found myself suddenly in the shadow of a cloud, and the thunder began to rumble with such emphasis that I could do no more than listen to it.

View in context

The plant species included bulrush (Scirpus californicus), softrush (Juncus effusus), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), duckweed (Lemna minor), pickerelweed (Pontederia), duckpotato (Sagittaria lancifolia), native canna (Canna spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), and native lotus (Nelumbo lutea).

Treatment of bio-oil refinery storm water by a simulated constructed wetland: a sustainable management alternative

William Chapman White wrote, "As a man tramps the woods to the lake he knows he will find pines and lilies, pickerelweed, blue heron, and golden shiners as they were in the summer of 1352, 1852, as they will be in 2052 and beyond.

Truly seeing--the Adirondack landscape through the eyes of Nathan Farb

When you add the reservoir's widespread vegetation that includes hydrilla, hyacinth, cattails, eelgrass, pickerelweed, lily pads, and even standing cypress along the south shore, you've got the makings of a bassing paradise.

Stand tight

They also were reported to eat some emergent semiaquatic plants, including pickerelweed, Pontederia cordata L.

Host plant selection by Romalea microptera (Orthoptera: Romaleidae)

Slippery and fast, it amazed the crew, taking them into dense buttonbush, pickerelweed, cattails, lotus, wild rice, water willow and even alder thickets where ducks previously hid with impunity.

Tough breeding season