Found in low wet areas, wet meadows are open sites with few shrubs or trees. Standing water is common through the spring and early summer, but not year-round, even though the soil is always very moist. While grasses and tall wildflowers are common here, the dominant plants are sedges. Sedges are grass-like plants which can often be distinguished by their triangular stems ("sedges have edges").

Sedge-dominated natural communities provide abundant habitat for many species of butterflies, especially skippers and the Eyed Brown, with the Baltimore also found in areas where turtlehead (Chelone glabra) is growing. Hunting dragonflies are abundant, especially the larger Green Darner as well as other darner species, Eastern Pondhawk, and a variety of Meadowflies. An array of birds use the dominant shrubs-willows (Salix) and dogwoods (Cornus)-for nesting. The Yellow Warbler and Willow Flycatcher are most common among these, but you may also see Canada goose, Common Snipe, and American Woodcock. Common mammals include shrews, voles, and mice.

Historically, people used wet meadows primarily for grazing livestock because the areas were too wet to be plowed for farming. The plants in wet meadows were also harvested as "marsh hay" which was used for livestock and for insulation in ice houses. These activities did not kill the roots of native plants, so in sites that have been abandoned, those plants have recovered and are now abundant. Seasonal flooding gives a competitive advantage to the moisture-tolerant plants found here. Periodic fires also maintain these sites by discouraging woody plants from invading the area.
Below are plants that may be found in wet meadow communities throughout Southeast Michigan. Non -natives are noted with an asterisk (*).

Shrubs
glossy buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)*
red -osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera)
silky dogwood (Cornus amomum)
willow (Salix)

Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes
blue joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis)
fowl manna grass (Glyceria striata)
rush (Juncus)
sedges (Carex stricta, Carex pellita, Carex bebbii)
spike rush (Eleocharis)

Wildflowers
boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum)
marsh mint (Mentha arvensis)
smooth swamp aster (Aster firmus)
swamp-betony (Pedicularis lanceolata)
tufted loosestrife (Lysimachia thyrsiflora)
turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

The above definition and plant list were taken with permission from Along the Huron: The Natural Communities of the Huron River Corridor in Ann Arbor, Michigan written by the Natural Area Preservation Division, Department of Parks and Recreation, City of Ann Arbor, 1999. You can order the book from the University of Michigan Press.

Additional definitions and pictures

• See a terrific definition by the EPA
• See page 24 of the terrific book Along the Huron: the Natural Communities of the Huron River Corridor in Ann Arbor, MI by the Natural Area Preservation Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation, the City of Ann Arbor
• Also see the description in the Michigan Natural Features Inventory