Index / Search / Vallisneria americana

§1 Plant

Vallisneria americana Michx.

vernacular American eelgrass — species · Hydrocharitaceae


USDA
VAAM3
GBIF
2865501
Rank
species
American eelgrass (Vallisneria americana)
Platephotograph · hollyyoungCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Hydrocharitaceae Juss.
Genus
Vallisneria
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state
Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-33 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
pH range
5–8.8
Root depth
0 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Stoloniferous
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
1 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Fruit colour
Green
Fire resistant
Yes
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Summer
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
135,000
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/VAAM3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2865501 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z