All plants need water and all plants are sensitive to the levels of water in the ground. This means that every plant can make a map of where the water is for us – when we know how to read it.
Some plants can survive temporary drought and cope in arid regions, but most like plentiful supply of water, especially during the critical growing and reproducing seasons. But there is a difference between enough water and too much – many plants struggle if the ground is waterlogged as this can impede gas exchange and effectively suffocates the roots.
A few plants specialise in very wet soil. Alder and willow trees are regularly found lining rivers, streams and lakes, for example.
When crossing damp ground it is a good idea to tune into the trees and smaller plants that indicate high levels of ground water, as this can make help us form a map that will make our journey easier, quicker and more comfortable.
The plants we use vary across regions and habitats, but the method stays the same. When you find your feet squelching in waterlogged soil, take a good look at the plants around your feet. Then, when you find yourself standing of firmer, higher ground, take another look at the plants. They will have changed noticeably. The great news is that we don’t need to even identify the plants by name, our brain is happy to pair their pattern with the ground conditions.
“Ah, that dark spiky clumps indicate wet ground, I’ll take a route around those.” This works whether we know the dark spiky plants are water-loving Juncus efffusus rush species or not. Reeds and rushes are two very common signs that there is a lot of water in the soil.
So, we feel our feet squelch near the plants in the wet ditch below…
And this allows us to map the wet ditch in the middle distance and find a way around it:
At the coast, the same science applies, but the salt in the water means all the species change. There are many saltwater specialists (they don’t like the salt, but have evolved to cope) that indicate the coast is getting nearer including tamarisks, mangroves and palms. Many of these specialists have the word ‘sea’ in their name, eg. sea thrift.
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