Elodea canadensis
species of plant
Elodea canadensis (American waterweed or Canadian waterweed or pondweed) is a perennial aquatic plant, or submergent macrophyte, native to most of North America. It has been introduced widely to regions outside its native range.
Distribution
The native range of the species includes most of North America, from British Columbia east to Nova Scotia, south to California, and southeast to northern Florida, in rivers and lakes from sea level up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) altitude, primarily in lime-rich waters.
Description
Young plants initially start with a seedling stem with roots growing in mud at the bottom of the water; further adventitious roots are produced at intervals along the stem, which may hang free in the water or anchor into the bottom. It grows indefinitely at the stem tips, and single specimens may reach lengths of 3 m (9.8 ft) or more.
The leaves are bright green, translucent, oblong, 6–17 mm long and 1–4 mm broad, borne in whorls of three (rarely two or four) round the stem. It lives entirely underwater, the only exception being the small white or pale purple flowers which float at the surface and are attached to the plant by delicate stalks. These stalks, or hypanthia, are the lower part of the petals joined to form a floral tube. This floral tube can be up to 30 cm (12 in) in length, while only 1 mm in width, for a length to width ratio of 300 fold. However, according to one article, this ratio can sometimes be as much as one thousandfold.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Elodea canadensis” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Elodea, canadensis and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q159760. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Elodea canadensis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.