Common Name: fine-leaved water dropwort
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Apiaceae
Native Range: United States
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 3.00 to 5.00 feet
Spread: 3.00 to 5.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: White
Sun: Full sun
Water: Wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Water Plant, Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Wet Soil
Culture
Easily grown in wet soil or slow-moving shallow water. Tolerates a variety of soils.
Best in full sun.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Oenanthe aquatica, commonly called fine-leaved water dropwort, is a fibrous-rooted, stoloniferous, herbaceous perennial that is native to marshes, shallow ponds, ditches, stream/river edges, and seasonally flooded lowlands in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. It has escaped cultivation and naturalized in Ohio and Maryland. Plants typically grow to 3-5' tall. Small leaves appear in fan-shaped segments. Small 5-petaled white flowers bloom in compound umbels from June to September. Mericarp fruit spreads by water or animals.
Genus name comes from the Greek words oinos meaning wine and anthos meaning flower in reference to the wine-like aroma of the flowers.
Specific epithet means growing in or near water.
Common name is in reference to the finely-textured plant leaves, plant preference for watery growing areas, and physical resemblance of the plant to the dry grassland dropwort known as Filipendula.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. All parts of this plant are poisonous.
Uses
Ponds or bog gardens. Wet areas.