Vallisneria americana, commonly called wild celery, water-celery, tape grass, or eelgrass,[2] is a plant in the family Hydrocharitaceae, the "tape-grasses".

It is native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Venezuela.

[4][9] Beds of V. americana, especially in Louisiana, have been known to be homes to many crustacean, gastropods, invertebrates and fish, and have been known to be grazed on by West Indian Manatees.

[4] V. americana generally maintains its population by clonal reproduction through the use of runners, but they are also capable of reproducing through the use of seeds.

[11] The female flowers are solitary and at the end of an incredibly long and thin pedicel; up to ten feet (three meters) in length, while less than 1/25th inch (one millimeter) thick.