Wetland wildflowers flourish at Pocosin Lakes

Published 5:29 pm Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Bulltongue duck potato (Sagittaria lancifolia) is a wetland wildflower that grows along the Scuppernong River Interpretive Boardwalk at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Columbia. It also grows in many other locations, but only in wetlands and only where it gets enough sun to thrive. It’s usually in open marshes, but the sunlight along the boardwalk is enough to allow them to grow and bloom. The Palamedes swallowtail butterfly’s larval (caterpillar) host plant is red bay, a major understory plant in the pocosins that covers most of Pocosin Lakes Refuge.