General: Perennial, aquatic herb from strong rhizomes; stems mostly unbranched, often flexuous, nearly circular in cross-section, tapered, up to 200 cm long.
Leaves: All submersed, linear-lanceolate, thin, flat, light green fading to white, 10-20 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, with 11 to 33 veins, clasping the stem, the tips rounded or hood-shaped, the stipules 3-10 cm long, fibrous or stringy; floating leaves absent.
Flowers: Inflorescence spikelike, the spikes 3-5 cm long, with 6 to 12 whorls of flowers, the stalks inflated.
Fruits: Achenes, widely egg-shaped or almost globe-shaped, 4.3-5.7 mm long, 3.2-4 mm wide, the beaks prominent, widely triangular, the keels wide.
Notes: Stem anatomical characters interlacunar bundles throughout the stem aerenchyma, subepidermal bundles absent, pseudohypodermis 1 to 3 cells thick, endodermis of U-cells.
Lakes in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent throughout BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, MA, NY, OH, IN, IL, IA, NE, CO, UT, ID and CA; Eurasia.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
