Montane, subalpine. Ponds. Summer.
Above: Grindstone Lake, August 25, 2007.
Left: Pass Creek Trail, July 13, 2016.

Menyanthes trifoliata makes neat little islands of vertical leaves.  The plant sprouts from stout, under-water rhizomes and produces masses of leaves cut into three leaflets, each leaf 1-5 five inches long and 1/2-2 inches wide.  Clusters of lovely five-petaled, white, fringed flowers with purple hairs appear in early-to-mid-summer and are on stalks just above the leaves.

The plant is circumboreal, and, as the map below indicates, it is found in the Northern Hemisphere across Canada and across all the western and northern United States.

Linnaeus named this species in 1753 from specimens collected in Europe. "Anthes" is Greek for "flower", but there are two very different meanings given to the Greek "meny":

1) Linnaeus may have used "meny" meaning "moon" because that was a general name that the Greeks gave to all aquatic plants and/or Linnaeus was alluding to his understanding that the plant bloomed for one moon, i.e., one month.
2) The other interpretation, apparently initiated by the Jepson Manual and repeatedly reproduced word-for-word by many online sites is that Linnaeus was using the Greek "menyein" to mean "disclosing, from flowers opening in succession in [the] inflorescence". The latter interpretation makes little sense to me as I do not understand "flowers opening in succession" as a distinguishing floral characteristic.

Apparently Linnaeus did not specify what he meant by using the word Menyanthes.

Click to read excellent details about Menyanthes trifoliata. 

Montane, subalpine. Ponds. Summer.
Grindstone Lake, August 25, 2007.

Looking down through the surface of Grindstone Lake, we can see stems emerging from roots at the bottom of the lake.

Montane, subalpine. Ponds. Summer.
Pass Creek Trail, July 21, 2011.

Montane, subalpine. Ponds. Summer.
Pass Creek Trail, July 21, 2011 and Grindstone Lake, July 20, 2012.

Click to see more flower images.

Montane, subalpine. Ponds. Summer.
Grindstone Lake, August 25, 2007.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Menyanthes trifoliate