Yellow Pond Lilies
During July yellow pond lilies fill Isa Lake near Grant Pass in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Isa Lake is perched atop one of 2 crossing of the Continental Divide that the Craig Pass Highway makes between West Thumb and Fishing Bridge. The little lake is covered with ice most of the year but in the summer it is filled with yellow waterlilies (Nuphar polysepalum). Isa lake is unusual in that that it has 2 outlets. One flows out on one side and goes to the Snake River tributaries and eventually to the Pacific while the outlet on the other side sends water to the Firehole River drainage and with time to the Mississippi and on to the Gulf of Mexico/ Atlantic. Even more unusual is the the configuration of the drainage. Because the local Divide runs roughly east-west at Isa's location, the east side drains to the Pacific and the west side of the lake drains to the Atlantic. That is the reverse of what one would expect.
The yellow water lily is also known as yellow pond lily, Indian pond lily, cow lily and spatterdock. I found some confusion when I tired to look up the scientific name of the yellow pond lily found in Yellowstone. The different species and subspecies names seemed to be being applied to same plant depending on the reference. The website ZipcodeZoo.com had the explanation: "The taxonomy of the genus is problematic. E. O. Beal (1956) departed dramatically from previous North American treatments in recognizing a single polymorphic species, Nuphar lutea (name of European origin ), with several subspecies formerly treated as species. Subsequent research (C. E. DePoe and E. O. Beal 1969; E. O. Beal and R. M. Southall 1977) has supported Beal's treatment for some southeastern subspecies, but most other taxa have not been studied as extensively. Beal's treatment, for the most part, has not been adopted in the Northeast and elsewhere in North America or in Europe. Molecular studies of Nuphar currently in progress (D. J. Padgett, pers. comm. ) have clearly shown the North American taxa to be distinct from the Eurasian Nuphar lutea; Beal's nomenclature under that taxon cannot be upheld. Continuing to treat those taxa at subspecific rank would require new combinations under Nuphar sagittifolia (Walter) Pursh, the oldest name that has hitherto been applied only in a geographically restricted sense. Until the molecular studies are completed, creating new names is premature. We therefore return to the previous treatment of the taxa as species."
This information was confirmed on the USDA's GRIN. A nomenclature change recognized by the USDA confirmed the name as Nuphar polysepalum.
zipcodezoo.com/Plants/N/Nuphar_polysepalum/
www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?25419
The confusion also extends to the genus nomenclature. ZipcodeZoo.com reports "Prior to conservation in its current sense, the name Nymphaea was frequently used for Nuphar. Although often treated as neuter, Nuphar was originally assigned the feminine gender".
So with the nomenclature issue at least partially understood, I did learn some very interesting things about the history of the yellow pond lily as a Native American food and medicine source from the US Forest Service site. "The mature seeds of the Yellow Pond Lily can be placed in a frying pan on an open fire and they will swell and pop open resembling popcorn in appearance and taste.The roots may be boiled or roasted, peeled, and then eaten as is or placed in a soup or stew. The core of the root is rich in starch. The root was also dried and ground into a meal and then made into flour by Native Americans.The Native Americans apparently had some difficulties in gathering this particular plant for food and medicine. The fleshy rootstocks grow under 4 to 5 feet of water. Some Indians would raid caches of the roots in muskrat houses, but usually they would dive for the root. Baked rootstocks of the Yellow Pond Lily were sliced and used as a poultice for sores. A decoction made by boiling rootstocks was added to bath water to treat rheumatism." (www.fs.usda.gov/detail/ipnf/learning/?cid=fsm9_019139)
U.S. Engineer, Hiram Chittenden, came across the unusual lake in 1891 as he was looking for a route for a new road between West Thumb and Old Faithful. He wrote a poem about the pond but it was not named until a couple years later in 1893 when Union Pacific Railroad official named it Isa for Isabel Jelke of Cincinnati, OH. Little is know about the reasons it was named after her or what her relationships were with the Railroad, Yellowstone National Park, the Lake itself or Hiram Chittenden (if any).
Because of the beautiful pond lilies this spot has been a favorite stop of the Jones Family over the generations and years.
Yellow Pond Lilies
During July yellow pond lilies fill Isa Lake near Grant Pass in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Isa Lake is perched atop one of 2 crossing of the Continental Divide that the Craig Pass Highway makes between West Thumb and Fishing Bridge. The little lake is covered with ice most of the year but in the summer it is filled with yellow waterlilies (Nuphar polysepalum). Isa lake is unusual in that that it has 2 outlets. One flows out on one side and goes to the Snake River tributaries and eventually to the Pacific while the outlet on the other side sends water to the Firehole River drainage and with time to the Mississippi and on to the Gulf of Mexico/ Atlantic. Even more unusual is the the configuration of the drainage. Because the local Divide runs roughly east-west at Isa's location, the east side drains to the Pacific and the west side of the lake drains to the Atlantic. That is the reverse of what one would expect.
The yellow water lily is also known as yellow pond lily, Indian pond lily, cow lily and spatterdock. I found some confusion when I tired to look up the scientific name of the yellow pond lily found in Yellowstone. The different species and subspecies names seemed to be being applied to same plant depending on the reference. The website ZipcodeZoo.com had the explanation: "The taxonomy of the genus is problematic. E. O. Beal (1956) departed dramatically from previous North American treatments in recognizing a single polymorphic species, Nuphar lutea (name of European origin ), with several subspecies formerly treated as species. Subsequent research (C. E. DePoe and E. O. Beal 1969; E. O. Beal and R. M. Southall 1977) has supported Beal's treatment for some southeastern subspecies, but most other taxa have not been studied as extensively. Beal's treatment, for the most part, has not been adopted in the Northeast and elsewhere in North America or in Europe. Molecular studies of Nuphar currently in progress (D. J. Padgett, pers. comm. ) have clearly shown the North American taxa to be distinct from the Eurasian Nuphar lutea; Beal's nomenclature under that taxon cannot be upheld. Continuing to treat those taxa at subspecific rank would require new combinations under Nuphar sagittifolia (Walter) Pursh, the oldest name that has hitherto been applied only in a geographically restricted sense. Until the molecular studies are completed, creating new names is premature. We therefore return to the previous treatment of the taxa as species."
This information was confirmed on the USDA's GRIN. A nomenclature change recognized by the USDA confirmed the name as Nuphar polysepalum.
zipcodezoo.com/Plants/N/Nuphar_polysepalum/
www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?25419
The confusion also extends to the genus nomenclature. ZipcodeZoo.com reports "Prior to conservation in its current sense, the name Nymphaea was frequently used for Nuphar. Although often treated as neuter, Nuphar was originally assigned the feminine gender".
So with the nomenclature issue at least partially understood, I did learn some very interesting things about the history of the yellow pond lily as a Native American food and medicine source from the US Forest Service site. "The mature seeds of the Yellow Pond Lily can be placed in a frying pan on an open fire and they will swell and pop open resembling popcorn in appearance and taste.The roots may be boiled or roasted, peeled, and then eaten as is or placed in a soup or stew. The core of the root is rich in starch. The root was also dried and ground into a meal and then made into flour by Native Americans.The Native Americans apparently had some difficulties in gathering this particular plant for food and medicine. The fleshy rootstocks grow under 4 to 5 feet of water. Some Indians would raid caches of the roots in muskrat houses, but usually they would dive for the root. Baked rootstocks of the Yellow Pond Lily were sliced and used as a poultice for sores. A decoction made by boiling rootstocks was added to bath water to treat rheumatism." (www.fs.usda.gov/detail/ipnf/learning/?cid=fsm9_019139)
U.S. Engineer, Hiram Chittenden, came across the unusual lake in 1891 as he was looking for a route for a new road between West Thumb and Old Faithful. He wrote a poem about the pond but it was not named until a couple years later in 1893 when Union Pacific Railroad official named it Isa for Isabel Jelke of Cincinnati, OH. Little is know about the reasons it was named after her or what her relationships were with the Railroad, Yellowstone National Park, the Lake itself or Hiram Chittenden (if any).
Because of the beautiful pond lilies this spot has been a favorite stop of the Jones Family over the generations and years.