ABSTRACT
Emergent aquatic plants are thought to contribute to improved water quality through different means, thereby increasing aerobic sites for microbial degradation of pollutants and decreased nutrient concentrations. Initially, getting aquatic plants established was a problem; approximately a year after replanting, however, bulrush specimens had formed clones with multiple aerial shoots, and mature bulrushes were flowering throughout the constructed wetland. Two equal-sized subsurface flow gravel cells with emergent aquatic plants receive pretreated wastewater onto crushed limestone rock. For representative clones, mean fresh weights of shoots decreased through the first three transects of the length of the constructed wetland. The number of bulrush clones (i.e., frequency), rooted entirely or partially in each transect, increased along the constructed wetland cell and was highest in the last one third. For each transect, the ratio of aerial to subterranean growth was represented in the total shoot:rhizome-root ratios, which was highest at the front end and lowest near the terminus of the wetland.
