Mucky or muddy borders of marshes, streams, and interdunal flats. Rare. Plants growing in water often develop corky bases.

Perennial to 1 m from a stoloniferous base, commonly much branched above, glabrous or ±pubescent; lvs lanceolate to linear, the larger commonly 5-10 cm, tapering to the base, those subtending the fls much smaller, fls tetramerous, subsessile, separated by distinct internodes; pet none; fr subglobose, finely pubescent, 2.5-4 mm, not angled; bracteoles attached at the base of or below the fr, very rarely half as long as the fr, often minute or obsolete; 2n=32. Swamps and wet soil; Mass. to Fla. and Tex.; also in Ind. and Mich. July-Sept. Variable, and often divided into several vars.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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