Pickerelweed

Pickerelweed is a swamp and wetland plant. They are just beginning their bloom at Coffee Creek.

The name comes from a fish that likes to hang out in the water around the plants; pickerel. I've never caught a Pickerel; nor even met one in my fishing adventures. In fact, Pickerel are listed only once in the Indiana DNR fishing facts and regulations pamphlet, in a reference to fish that might be caught in Ohio River in Southern Indiana.

The Pickerelweed provides food and/or shelter for aquatic invertebrates,  muskrats, deer, and ducks. It also produces a nut-like seed that is edible for humans.  The leaves are also edible.