Definitions for "Emergent vegetation"
(3) aquatic plant species that are rooted in wetlands but extended above the water's surface. See also submergent vegetation.
Plants rooted in soil with their lower portions submersed, but with most of their photosynthetic tissues above water, such as cattail or bulrush
benthic plants that grow partly in water and partly emerging from water (e.g., cattails, arrow arum, pond lily, phragmites).