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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
Aquatic plant forming colonies by underwater horizontal stems (rhizomes). Mostly unbranched stems are round and often rusty-spotted. Leaves are often underwater but may float. Whorls of tiny greenish flowers grow on spikes that are held above the water.
Identification notes: Leaf stems distinctly paler near their tip; floating leaf blade rounded to 5 inches long, stem to 35 inches long; submerged leaves narrow thread-like or ribbon-like, to 1/2 inch wide; stipular sheaths of submersed leaves from base of leaf blade.
Height:
To about 3 feet long
Habitat Description: Shallow, still, slow-moving, brackish (saltier than fresh water) or fresh water in lakes, ponds, bogs, marshes, lagoons and streams.
Plant Communities:
Riparian
Elevation: 8500 - 9000 feet
Color:
Greenish
Shape:
Regular in elongated clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Jun - Jul
Description:
Dense, cylindrical flower spikes are 2 to 4 inches long, and grow from the axils (between the leaf and stem) of the floating leaves. 6 to 10+ whorls of flowers grow along the flower spike. Each greenish flower has 4 leaf-like sepals and no petals.
Leaf Color:
Green, clear
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Other
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
No
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Floating leaves are leathery, 17 to 37 veined, rounded, often heart-shaped at the base. The leaf stalk is much longer than the leaf, often bent where it meets the blade and noticeably pale just below the blade. Underwater leaves are clear, rigid, narrow.
Fruit Color: Green to greenish-brown
Fruit Type: Berry-like
Fruit Notes: Fruit is plump, irregularly oval-shaped, rounded on the back, wrinkled and often with no ridges on its surface. It is 1/8 to 1/4 inch long with a short (<1/16 inch long) projection (beak) on its tip which may be upright or curve backwards.
Seed Notes: The seed is about 1/8 inch long, oblong to circular in shape with a loose, shiny skin on its surface.
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