Alisma subcordatum

{{Short description|Species of aquatic plant}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = American water plantain

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

|status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Maiz-Tome, L. |date=2016 |title=Alisma subcordatum |volume=2016 |page=e.T64263394A67728483 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64263394A67728483.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| image = Alisma subcordatum flower.jpg

| image_alt =

| image_caption =

| genus = Alisma

| species = subcordatum

| authority = Raf.

|synonyms_ref = [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALSU&photoID=alsu_001_avd.tif PLANTS Profile for Alisma subcordatum] Retrieved 2010-03-17.[http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ALISUB Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928013040/http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ALISUB |date=2011-09-28 }} Retrieved 2010-03-17.

|synonyms = *Alisma plantago-aquatica L. ssp. subcordatum (Raf.) Hultén

• Alisma plantago-aquatica L. var. parviflorum (Pursh) Torr.
• Alisma parviflorum Pursh

}}

Alisma subcordatum, the American water plantain, is a perennial aquatic plant in the water-plantain family (Alismataceae). This plant grows to about {{convert|3|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} in height with lance to oval shaped leaves rising from bulbous corms with fibrous roots. Any leaves that form underwater are weak and quick to rot; they rarely remain on adult plants. A branched inflorescence with white to pink 3-petaled flowers blooms from June to September. The seeds are eaten by waterfowl and upland birds.[http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_alsu.pdf USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet] Retrieved 2010-03-18.[http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=alsu Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center] Retrieved 2010-03-18. Native Americans dried and ate the submerged rootlike structures.{{cite book|last1=Niering |first1=William A. |author-link1=William Niering| last2=Olmstead |first2=Nancy C. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region |year=1985 |orig-date=1979|publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50432-1 |page=317}} The species name subcordatum means "almost heart-shaped".[http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ALISUB Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium University of Wisconsin Stevens Point] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928013040/http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ALISUB |date=2011-09-28}} Retrieved 2010-03-08.