Elodea bifoliata is an perennial aquatic plant that roots in the bottoms of freshwater streams and lakes.

[2] His description was based upon plants that he collected from one of the Lake Mary reservoirs near Flagstaff in Coconino County, Arizona.

[2] It is found in all the Rocky Mountain States including Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

To the east its range extends into five northern Great Plains states, Kansas, Nebraska, both Dakotas, and Minnesota.

[7] Though the USDA does not record it there, the Jepson Herbarium reports that it grows in the farthest north eastern corner of California.

[7] In Canada it grows in four western provinces, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan according to Plants of the World Online.