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Each aquatic community has a variety of plants which provide shelter and food for many  of the animals living in the community, and add oxygen to the water. Some of these plants grow along the water's edge, such
as this pickerelweed. |
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| EMERGENTS |
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| Plants that grow out of water are called emergents. Some emergents
are: broadleaf arrowhead, named for the shape of its leaf (near right), and soft rush (far right). |
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| FLOATING PLANTS |
 Other aquatic plants have adapted so that their leaves float on the surface
of the water. These plants, such as spatter dock (left), floating pondweeds (bottom left), and duckweed (bottom right), tend
to occur in ponds and in backwaters of streams and rivers where there is little or no current. |
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| SUBMERGENTS |
 A third group of plants grow completely submerged under the surface of
the water. The roots of this water milfoil (right) anchor it into the bottom of the pond.
Coontail (below), also a submerged plant, is a bit different. Often
it isn't rooted to the ground.
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