The flowers emerge from beneath the scales and the plant can be identified by the straight or curving toothed spines on the developing fruit.

[9] Sinkhole ponds usually fill with water in the spring and dry out during the summer, but their hydrology is variable.

[11] The most common plant associates are threeway sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum), woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus sens.

), rattlesnake mannagrass (Glyceria canadensis), and Virginia marsh St. Johns wort (Triadenum virginicum).

[9] Other plants in the habitat include American winterberry (Ilex verticillata), blue skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), dogbane (Apocynum sp.

), swamp rose (Rosa palustris), lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), red maple (Acer rubrum), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), white oak (Quercus alba), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), yellow water lily (Nuphar advena), buttonwillow (Cephalanthus occidentalis), duckweed (Lemna minor), silvery sedge (Carex canescens), blister sedge (Carex vesicaria), tussock sedge (Carex stricta), squarestem spikerush (Eleocharis quadrangulata), cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum), rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), water knotweed (Persicaria amphibia), and water parsnip (Sium suave).