by Nathaniel Lord Britton & Addison Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States… (1913)
“ The vegetative growth is by lateral branching, the branches being but slightly connected by slender stalks and soon separating. In the autumn these disconnected branches fall to the bottom of the ditch or pond, but rise and again increase in size in the spring. The inflorescence consists of one or more naked monoecious flowers borne on the edge or upper surface of the plant. Each flower commonly consists of but a single stamen or a single flask-shaped pistil. ”
