July 20, 2006
Water Chestnut, Trapa natans
Exotic, even beautiful, but unwelcome. Water chestnut is an invasive floating water plant that can cover the surface of bodies of water such as Black's Nook, where this plant was photographed, choking out beneficial native plants. It also can create anaerobic conditions as dead plants decompose when the water warms up in the spring. This can be fatal for fish and other pond organisms.