Alisma gramineum is a small aquatic plant in the water-plantain family. It has several common names including narrowleaf water-plantain, ribbonleaf water-plantain, and grass-leaved water-plantain. It grows in mud or submerged in shallow fresh or brackish water in marshy areas. The leaves and tiny purple-tinted white flowers may be submersed or not. When the flowers grow underwater they are cleistogamous, meaning they stay closed and self-pollinate. When the flowers grow above water they open. The leaves above the surface are stiff and wide, but submerged leaves are ribbon-like. The fruit is a ring of dry nutlets. Reproduction is by seed or from division of the corm. This plant has a wide distribution. It grows across North America and Europe and into North Africa. This is an endangered and protected species in the United Kingdom.
image source: http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi?earl=plant_profile.cgi&symbol=ALGR&photoID=algr_001_avp.tif
