Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Can someone help me identify this water plant?

We found a plant last year while mushroom hunting on some of my family's land, on the top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere, in the kind of place that rarely sees people. I don't know if Native Americans planted it there way back when or if it just came up there. My great grandparents may have planted it for all I know. It was growing in a boggy oasis-like area in about 6 inches of water. It was blooming then. I don't remember what time of the year it was. Anyway, the plant looks like a hosta mixed with a peace lily. If I remember right the bloom was fairly large and snow white. We were in the same area again the other day and the plants had survived the winter (Kentucky, zone 6) and had spread, so I dug some up and brought them home with me. I intend to put them in the shallow end of my pond. However, I was wandering what they were and if they were harmful to my koi. The water they were growing in didn't have any fish. Are they a common plant that anyone with any sense should have recognized or are they something “new”?

See picture at

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm320/snailbisc...

Thanks!!!

4 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    "looks like a hosta mixed with a peace lily"....

    I had to look up what "hosta" and "peace lily" was, but now that I know, I think your plant is a kind of skunk cabbage. I see them near marshy areas near creeks where I live, but their flowers are yellow. I live in WA state, but I read there were some kinds of skunk cabbage growing somewhere east.

    I'd suggest going to your library and looking up "skunk cabbage" in a native plant field guide, see if you find any matches.

  • 1 decade ago

    Suggestion...take it to your local plant nursery and see if they can tell you what it is.

    It's hard to determine without a picture of the flower.

  • 1 decade ago

    Arrowhead family. common perennial. Tubers are edible. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=...

  • 1 decade ago

    looks like the lake hyacinth we have down in Texas

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.