Wild Flowers - Water plants

The plants on this page are not sorted by colour, but they are all water plants that are only likely to be found in, or at the edge of, rivers, ditches or pools.

Yellow Water-lily
Yellow Water-lily

Flowering from June until September, this plant grows well along the Combe Haven stream and in several of the lakes.

White Water-lily
White Water-lily

Uncommon in the Park but can be found in a pool towards the eastern end of the Greenway. Fowers from June until August.

Frogbit
Frogbit

Frogbit is found in still water and ditches. It flowers from June until August.

Arrowhead
Arrowhead

This common plant with distinctive leaves can be found all along the streams. Flowers in July and August.

Bladderwort
Bladderwort

A rare plant that can be found in Filsham reedbed and in a ditch near Three Bridges. It tends to flower mainly in the year following dredging, in June and July.

Bur-reed
Bur-reed

This can be found along the Combe Haven and other streams and flowers from June until August. Branched and un-branched species occur.

Water Mint
Water Mint

Grows on very damp ground usually at the edge of some of our pools. Flowers from July until October.

Water Forget-me-not
Water Forget-me-not

Quite common along the rivers, this aquatic species of Forget-me-not flowers from June until September.

Bulrush
Bulrush

Also known as Great Reedmace, the brown sausage-like array of female flowers has the male flowers above it. The less common Lesser Bulrush is also present in the valley.

More Information

The Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland has a page with links to books, websites and downloadable files to help you identify wild plants.

A useful free guide was produced by the National Plant Monitoring Scheme.

A useful book is “Collins complete guide to British Wild Flowers”.

Photos on this page by Peter Hunnisett

Footpaths - 1 January

The valley is still flooded and all paths across the lower part of the valley are impassable, as is most of the path along the river.

Report overgrown rights of way to East Sussex and other paths to the Friends of Combe Valley.

Latest News

Waxwings

December 2023 saw a group of Waxwings visiting the Park to sample the berries. Several hundred visit Britain each winter.

New on this website

August 2023 - a set of new pages describing some of the more common flowering plants has been added to the "Wildlife" section of the site.