Wildflower (forb) · Pontederiaceae
Pickerelweed
Pontederia cordata
Pickerelweed is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 621 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Pickerelweed at a glance
- Native in
- 621 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Pickerelweed is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 621 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 621 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Arkansas 6 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 61 counties
- Georgia 26 counties
- Illinois 25 counties
- Indiana 24 counties
- Iowa 1 county
- Kansas 2 counties
- Kentucky 8 counties
- Louisiana 35 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 12 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 51 counties
- Minnesota 17 counties
- Mississippi 5 counties
- Missouri 19 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 48 counties
- Ohio 23 counties
- Oklahoma 1 county
- Pennsylvania 21 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 22 counties
- Tennessee 10 counties
- Texas 30 counties
- Vermont 10 counties
- West Virginia 3 counties
- Wisconsin 46 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 40 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.9 to 8.7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Not recorded
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Pontederiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POCO14
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Pontederia cordata (PLANTS symbol POCO14).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources