Often referred to as wild celery, tapegrass, or freshwater eelgrass, but not related to edible garden celery, Vallisneria americana is a dioecious freshwater perennial plant having fibrous roots. The long, flattened, ribbon-like leaves all emerge from the base of the plant in clusters. The leaves are microscopically serrulate , with a bluntly rounded tip. A characteristic light green stripe runs down the center of the finely veined leaves. This is most visible when the leaf is held up in the light.
Plants grow from nodes along the creeping underground rhizome from which fibrous roots extend.
Leaves are approximately 1 cm wide. Vallisneria americana flowers from July through September. Another SAV, eelgrass, can sometimes be confused with wild celery. However, eelgrass has alternately arranged leaves and, because of its preference for high salinity areas, the two species are rarely found in the same location. It belongs to the Hydrocharitaceae family, Hydrocharitales order, Alismatidae subclass, and Monocots class, and the Tracheophyta phylum.