By mid-August aquatic plants have started to flower.   Every lake has a different combination of lakeshore and shallow water aquatics.   Common to many of our area lakes is water smartweed (Persicaria amphibia).   Some other common names are longroot smartweed, water knotweed, and amphibious bistort (Polygonum amphibium).

 

Less commonly spotted is bur-reed (Sparganium emersum).   In this image, we can see flowers in three stages of development.   There are several similar species with lots of variations.

In bur-reed, the male flowers grow above the female flowers.

Also spotted on the lake was marsh skullcap (scutellaria galericulata).   I usually find that the plants grow on waterlogged stumps.

These perennials are in the mint family.

In deeper water lily pads grow and yellow water lily (Nuphar lutea) flowers in mid-summer.   By the fall, moose have waded into the shallows and have eaten most of the flowerheads.

Algae grows in warm weather and gives shallow areas a green color.   Duckweed flourishes too, feeding the ducks who congregate in bays and lagoons.

We watch the various hatches that occur on the lakes, then we observe the insects and birds that patrol the lakes, and in late summer, we enjoy finding flowering aquatics on the lakes that we paddle.