Golden Club

Orontium aquaticum is an aquatic perennial with glaucous leaves and unusual, slender flowering spadices held 15cm (6") above the water's surface. This low maintenance plant is of a rhizomatous nature, and has oblong-elliptical shaped leaves up to 25cm (10") in length, that may be submerged, floating, and aerial. Tiny bright yellow flowers are borne on the tips of the slender white spadices or "pokers" during the spring and early summer. Interestingly, this species is the single living representative of the Orontium genus; all others are extinct and have been described only from fossils. This is a plant that appreciates a sunny position, and can be grown in deep mud at the margins of a pond or, if growth is to be more controlled, in large pond baskets placed up to 60cm (24") deep. It typically spreads to around 1m (3.3ft) within 5 or so years. The flower spikes are fairly short lived and should be deadheaded as they deteriorate, and any yellowing leaves removed as necessary. Propagation is from seed or division; the seed developing on the plant underwater in small green berries once flowering has finished. Division is by far the easiest option though, and this should be carried out during the spring, the clumps being planted directly into their permanent sites. O. aquaticum is a plant that can be a little slow to establish, but it is well worth the wait!

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