General: Perennial aquatic herb without roots; stems very slender, floating, submerged or creeping along the bottom, leafy, up to 50 cm long, 0.4 mm thick.
Leaves: Alternate, numerous, 0.5-2 cm long, divided into 3 parts at the base and then again 1-3 times into 20 or more thread-like segments, the ultimate ones blunt, usually without bladders but, if present, borne on branches distinct from those bearing the leaves and 2-4 mm wide, leaf margins bristly, the hyaline bristles arising directly from the margins (20x magnification); winter buds 7-16 mm long, bristly.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 2-4 flowers in lax racemes at the end of stalks 6-20 cm long; corollas yellow, 10-15 mm long, lower lips 8-12 mm long, the spurs parallel to, and over 1/2 the length of the lower lips, the lower lips broad.
Oligotrophic and dystrophic (low nutrient) lakes, fens, and marshes in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent S of 55degreeN in BC, rare northward; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to OH, DE, IA, 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)
