Habitat: Coontail and is found in the submersed plant community from the surface to depths of several meters. Lacking true roots, the plants may drift between a variety of depths during the growing season, at times becoming loosely anchored in the sediments. Unlike rooted aquatic plants, drawing their nutrients primarily from the sediments, coontail is able to draw nutrients directly from the water. Coontail is tolerant of cool temperatures and low light conditions.
Description: Coontail is a submersed aquatic plant with coarse, bushy stems and no roots. The stiff leaves are fork-divided (generally forked once or twice), flattened, and arranged in whorls of 5 to 12 leaves. The leaf margins are finely serrated. In some cases the teeth are tipped with a small spine. Whorls of leaves are more closely spaced towards the end of branches giving the plant a raccoon tail appearance. Tiny flowers, followed by spiny fruits (on female plants only) are produced in the leaf axils. Coontail fruits are smooth and have two spines at the base. (The fruits of close look-alike prickly hornwort have several spines of various lengths around the outer edge and a rough surface.)
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