The western-most pond in the Fannie Mae gardens is fringed by these extremely showy plants with large leafs that float on the water and flap lazily in the wind. Given that the leaves are entirely round, rather than bearing one deep notch, these are lotus (
Nelumbo spp.) rather than water lilies. Interspersed with the lotuses at this particular location are cattails (
Typha latifolia).
Another view, which clearly shows the very characteristic seedpods left behind when the petals drop away.
Given that many of the flowers have a pinkish rather than a yellow core, these appear to be not the American lotus (
Nelumbo lutea, see this
Wikipedia article), but rather a hybrid with the pink Indian lotus (
Nelumbo nucifera, see this
Wikipedia entry).
Along the eastern edge of the pond, between the lotus pad and the shore, one can find this dense mat of aquatic plants with alternate leaves and showy five-petaled yellow flowers. This is a form of water primrose (
Ludwigia spp), and appears to be creeping water primrose (
Ludwigia peploides, see this
Wikipedia article and this
Alabama description), which is a noxious weed. Like other primroses, the flowers are open in the morning but have disappeared by late afternoon.
This pond, like many others in Reston, is also ringed by graceful weeping willows (
Salix babylonica, see this
Virginia Tech fact sheet and this
Wikipedia article), an ornamental introduced from China. In this shot, a cardinal can be spotted resting on a branch in the middle of the image.
Along the W&OD bike path, as here opposite from the Fannie Mae Gardens, one frequently encounters large patches of Japanese stiltgrass (
Microstegium vimineum, see this
National Park Service description and this
photo gallery), which is highly invasive. The grass superficially resembles deer-tongue grass
(
Dichanthelium clandestinum, compare this
blog entry from a couple of months ago), but is smaller, and the leaves are less clasping of the stem.
In the broad weed-covered opening where the W&OD bike path crosses the pipeline easement, once can find this morning glory vine, whose flower is marked by five light pink splotches separated by white spokes. This appears to be a variety of hedge bindweed (
Calystegia sepium); see the picture of a pink variety at this
Missouri description. Note also the very characteristic arrowhead-shaped leaves. Other instances of this flower that I have seen along the W&OD path have been white rather than pink; see, for example, this
post from last October.
