Nutritional Freshwater Life
78
Vallisneria americana (Michx.)
Order: Alismatales
Family: Hydrocharitaceae
Common name: Wild celery, water
celery, tape grass, eelgrass.
Distribution: Americas, Iraq, China,
Japan, Korea, India, Papua New Guinea,
Philippines, Australia, Canada, United
States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras,
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti,
and Venezuela.
Habitat: Lakes and streams; grows
underwater.
Description: The plants of this species
are long, limp, flat, and have a green
midridge. They spread by runners
and sometimes form tall underwater
meadows. Eelgrass leaves arise in clusters from their roots. They are 2.5 cm
wide and can be several meters long.
The  leaves, which are up to 1 m long,
have rounded tips and definite raised
veins. Single white female flowers grow
to the water surface on very long stalks.
Leaves of this species are edible (Center
for Aquatic and Invasive Plants).
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition (% DM)
Protein
Ash
Fiber
15.15
3.10
27.32
Minerals (% or mg/100 g DM)
Ca
(%)
P
(%)
K
(%)
Na
(%)
Mg
(%)
Fe
(mg)
Mn
(mg)
Mo
(mg)
1.82 0.16 3.75 0.571 0.298 323
176
12
Source: Data from Linn et al. (1975).
Potamogeton amplifolius (Tuckerman)