''Alisma subcordatum'', the American water plantain, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

aquatic plant in the water-plantain family (

Alismataceae The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 19 genera (17 extant and 2 fossil) and 117 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northe ...

). This plant grows to about 3 feet (1 meter) in height with lance to oval shaped leaves rising from bulbous

corms A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ( perennation). The word ...

with fibrous roots. Any leaves that form underwater are weak and quick to rot; they rarely remain on adult plants. A branched

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

with white to pink 3-petaled flowers blooms from June to September. The seeds are eaten by

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

and upland birds.USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet
Retrieved 2010-03-18. Native Americans dried and ate the submerged rootlike structures. The species name ''subcordatum'' means "almost heart-shaped".

Distribution and habitat

American water plantain is native to most of eastern and central

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, north to

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, though it has not been reported from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

.Biota of North America Program
/ref> It grows in the mud of still to slow moving water, seeps, and wetlands.

References

subcordatum Freshwater plants Plants described in 1808 Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the United States Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque {{Monocot-stub