Vegetation found in and around seasonal pools can vary depending on elevation, hydroperiod, and surrounding vegetation types.  These plants are an important component of the habitat.  Vegetation influences hydrology through transpiration and by creating shade which slows evaporation and moderates pool temperatures.  Plant growth and decay builds up the organic layer in the pool basin which helps the pool retain water longer.  Organic detritus provided by plants in the form of dead leaves and woody debris is the foundation of the aquatic food web.

Plants provide physical attachment, emergence, and oviposition sites for seasonal pool animals.  They also provide protective cover where prey can hide from predators.  In all these ways, vegetation helps shape the seasonal pool community.  After a pool dries up, a new suite of plant species often appears in a pool basin.  These plants add organic detritus to the pool basin and increase the species diversity supported by a seasonal pool habitat.

The current ‘herbaceous vernal pond’ community described in ‘Terrestrial and Palustrine Plant Communities of Pennsylvania’ (Fike 1999) lists numerous plants that are often associated with seasonal pools, including three way sedge (Dulichium arundincaeum), creeping mannagrass (Glyceria acutiflora), rice-cutgrass ( Leersia oryzoides), wool-grass (Scirpus cyperinus), northeastern bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus), bugleweed ( Lycopus uniflorus), pale false mannagrass (Torreyochloa pallida), smartweeds ( Polygonum sp.), marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris), nodding sedge (Carex gynandra), fringed sedge (Carex crinita var. crinita), short sedge (Carex canescens), blister sedge (Carex vesicaria), common rush (Juncus effusus), Virginia chain fern (Woodwardia virginica), St. Johnswort (Hypericum mutilum), lesser Canadian St. Johnswort (Hypericum canadense), cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), royal fern ( Osmunda regalis), rough bentgrass ( Agrostis scabra), hiddenfruit bladderwort (Utricularia geminiscapa), marsh St. Johnswort ( Triadenum virginicum), sessilefruit arrowhead (Sagittaria rigida), broad-leaved arrowhead ( Sagittaria latifolia), and spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.).  Woody species include high-bush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), he-huckleberry (Lyonia ligustrina), pin oak (Quercus palustris), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), red maple (Acer rubrum), willows (Salixspp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and winterberry (Ilex verticillata).

Seasonal pools often have a component of swamp forest at the pool and upland interface.  This vegetation often closely fits Fike's ‘red maple-black gum palustrine’ forest type.  Characteristic swamp forest trees include black gum, red maple, and pin oak.  Other associates include chokeberry (Aronia sp.), cinnamon fern, swamp dewberry (Rubus hispidus), meadow-sweet (Spiraea latifolia), highbush blueberry, and alders (Alnus spp.).

Like animals found in seasonal pools, there are some native plant species well adapted to life in temporarily inundated habitats.  In Pennsylvania, there are five species of special concern that are known to utilize seasonal pool habitats.  They are small beggar-ticks (Bidens discoidea), lance-leaved loosestrife (Lysimachia hybrida), Oakes’ pondweed (Potamogeton oakesianus), heartleaf pondweed (Potamogeton pulcher), and northeastern bulrush.  The northeastern bulrush is a federally endangered plant species found almost exclusively in seasonal pools in Pennsylvania.