A Compendium of Wetland
Terms
(with a little help from my dictionary)
bog - wet spongy ground; especially : a poorly drained usually
acid area rich in accumulated plant material, frequentlysurrounding a body
of open water, and having a characteristic flora (as of sedges, heaths,
and sphagnum (and carnivorous plants!))
swamp - a wetland often partially or intermittently covered
with water; especially : one dominated by woody vegetation (like cypress
trees and stuff.)
marsh - a tract of soft wet land usually characterized by
monocotyledons (as grasses or cattails)
slough - a place of deep mud or mire, a creek in a marsh
or tide flat
glade - an open space surrounded by woods. Not really
a wetland, but might surround a fen or bog.
fen - low land covered wholly or partly with water unless
artificially drained. Kind of like a bog, but with higher nutrient
levels. Maybe a bog wannabe?
savannah - a treeless plain especially in Florida, usually
seasonally flooded.
moor - a boggy area; especially : one that is peaty and dominated
by grasses and sedges
muskeg - a sphagnum bog of northern No. America often with
tussocks
pocosin - an upland swamp of the coastal plain of the southeastern
U.S.
carr - a chiefly British fen.
vernal pool - a pool of water forming in the
spring, usually dry part of the year
pond - an open body of water smaller than a lake
lake - an open body of water larger than a pond
reservoir - an artificial body where water is collected and
kept in quantity for use
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