Bogbean - Menyanthes trifoliata
Almost hairless aquatic or semi aquatic plant reaching to 30 cm, and with stout creeping runners. Leaves trifoliate, with oval or diamond shaped untoothed leaflets held above water on long stalks. Flowers pink outside, whitish inside 14 to 16 mm starry shaped, the petals fringed with long whitish hairs. Borne in long racemes.
Photograph of plant in habitat, showing leaves and /or flowers
Shallow water or semi-aquatic in fens and bogs.
April to June.
Perennial.
Widespread but not very common in Britain.
Uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the The Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi & Evans) it was found in 3 of the 617 tetrads.
It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but is not on the current RPR (Hall & Woodward, 2022); it is listed as 'data deficient' because it is not clear whether records are of introduced/escaped plants or natives.
David Nicholls
Ratby garden1
25 April 2009
David Nicholls
Sandhill Lodge, Charnwood
30 July 2021
Graham Calow
Broughton Astley
03 May 2013
leaf
Graham Calow
Broughton Astley
03 May 2013
individual flower
John E Fletcher
Glen Parva
24 May 2015
Frank Bedford
Saltersford Wood
28 June 2022
Melinda Bell
Saltersford Valley
02 June 2020
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Species profile
- Common names
- Bogbean
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Asterales
- Family:
- Menyanthaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 20
- First record:
- 25/04/2009 (Nicholls, David)
- Last record:
- 28/06/2022 (Bell, Melinda)
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% of records within its species group
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