[3] It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of Eurasia and North America.

It is an aquatic plant, growing in shallow water bodies such as ponds and streams.

The leaves may be limp and floating or stiff and erect, emerging above the water surface.

The leaves are flat and straplike, sometimes with a triangular, keeled base that can help distinguish it from the similar Sparganium angustifolium.

It is monoecious, individual plants bearing both male and female inflorescences.