There is no shame in simply identifying a plant as Elodea . Quebec to Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, and Washington, south to North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nevada, and California. Also Europe, Asia. Quiet waters of lakes and streams. By Seed Flowers June-August Male flowers break off plant, rise, and split open, spreading pollen onto the water's surface where it drifts and may, by chance, reach a female flower.
Pollination occurs at the water's surface at the whim of wind and wave.
By fragmentation of the stem.