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Erect or lax, emersed or submersed, highly variable according to the habitat; lvs lanceolate and entire, or shortly sagittate with narrow basal lobes, or phyllodial; scape 1–8 dm, with 2–8 whorls of fls, typically geniculate at the lowest whorl, the upper fls staminate on filiform pedicels 1.5–3 cm, the lower pistillate, sessile or nearly so (the pedicel sometimes to 5 mm, rarely to 1 cm); bracts ovate, obtuse, 4–6 mm, connate below, smooth; sep ovate, 4–7 mm, reflexed at maturity; pet 1–3 cm; stamens 15–many; filaments subulate, roughened with minute scales; achenes obovate to oblong, 2–3 mm, narrowly winged on the margins only, usually with a resin-duct on each face; beak 0.8–1.4 mm; 2n=22. In shallow water of swamps and ponds; Me. and Que. to Minn., s. to Va., Tenn., Mo., and Neb. July–Sept. (S. heterophylla)
The flower group is 10-80 cm long. There are 2-8 flowers. They are in rings up the stem. The higher flowers have stalks and are male while the lower flowers do not have stalks and are female.
