This is a widespread submerged aquatic across North and Central America, usually in rivers and streams with little pollution or other disturbance. It is uncommon to rare in east-central states (K). In Ky. most records are from Appalachian regions, but the species still survives locally within the Ohio Rv. upstream of Cincinnati. The FAYE record mapped here is the most likely locality for an 1830s coll. of C.W. Short (CINC) labelled just "Ky. River." Currently, the only plants known to survive in the Kentucky Rv. watershed are in Collins Fork (CLAY and KNOX). It has been mapped in the Green Rv. watershed by K (BARR and EDMO), but the sources of these records are unknown here.