Water-shield
Brasenia schreberi
Found in lakes, ponds, sluggish streams, floodplain oxbow ponds, beaver ponds. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Wet to standing water
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- June to October
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Leaves
Height: NC species account not read yet.
Spread and leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 35 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.
Habitats
Ponds, lakes and their shores; streams, rivers and their banks; floodplain and bottomland forests.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Brasenia
- Elophila gyralisWaterlily Borer Moth
- Elophila icciusalisPondside Pyralid, Pondside Crambid
- Elophila obliteralisWaterlily Leafcutter Moth
- Elophila tinealisBlack Duckweed Moth
- Parapoynx allionealisWatermilfoil Leafcutter, Bladderwort Casemaker
- Parapoynx maculalisPolymorphic Pondweed Moth
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
6BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Brasenia
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Aix sponsaWood Duck
- Anas platyrhynchosMallard
- Aythya collarisRing-necked Duck
- Gallinula galeataCommon Gallinule
- Quiscalus majorBoat-tailed Grackle
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Cabombaceae
- Flower color
- Yellow, pink, purple or red
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “June to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow, pink, purple or red” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Frequent standing water” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Snot Bonnet; Water Shield
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications