Stems at first erect or ascending, 5–20 cm, with numerous soft basal lvs, a few cauline lvs, and a terminal infl of 2–8 sessile or peduncled heads, each 8–15 mm thick and composed of 5–15 green, often falcately curved fls; stem later becoming elongate, prostrate or floating, and producing additional flowering branches from the nodes; fls eprophyllate; tep rigid, subulate, the sep 4–5 mm, the pet 5–10 mm; stamens 3; fr trilocular, slender, obtuse, about equaling or a little shorter than the sep. Wet shores, marshes, and shallow water, on the coastal plain; Del. to Fla., Tex., and Okla.