Aquatic plant grows totally underwater. Slender stems are much branched at the top. Thread-like leaves spread out in a fan-shape beneath the water's surface. Tiny, brownish-green flowers grow in whorls on a spiked stalk resembling a string of beads.
Rhizomatous forb; distinguished from other Stuckenia by the open sheath that is fused to the blade for most of its length. Leaves narrow; tips pointed, all immersed; well branched, especially toward stem tips, stems rounded to slightly compressed.
Habitat
Shallow ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, estuaries (where a river or stream meets the ocean) and slow-flowing marshes (low-lying waterlogged land). Grows in fresh, chalky (having limestone) and brackish (somewhat salty) waters.
Flower Characteristics
The flower stalk is an upright, cylindrical spike 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long with 2 to 6 irregularly spaced whorls of tiny bead-like flowers. Each flower is about 1/8 inch across with 4 tepals (sepals and petals) and a base that narrows abruptly.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Cylindrical, light green to whitish stems are about 1/8 inch wide. Leaves are 1-1/2 to 5 inches long, to 1/16 inch wide with a finely pointed tip. At the leaf base are small greenish or whitish sheath-like growths (stipules) that wrap around the stem.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruit is plump, rounded along the back with an egg-like shape. It has a projection at the top which curves inward and is about 1/16 inch long. The fruit is 1/16 to 1/4 inch long and about 1/8 inch wide. 1 plant can produce more than 60,000 tiny fruits.
Seeds form at the top of the flower spike. 1 seed is produced by each fruit. When the fruit matures, seeds often fall into the water as they easily detach from the fruit. The seeds are then dispersed by the wind or waterbirds.