Botanical atlas

Wild Celery (American Eelgrass)

Vallisneria americana

Vallisneria americana has almost no history as a human medicine, but it holds a real place in North American natural history and foodways all the same. Its ribbon leaves and starchy winter buds once fed vast rafts of migrating canvasback ducks so heavily that the birds' rich, nutty flavor became legendary on Chesapeake Bay tables, and hunters and cooks of the nineteenth century judged a canvasback's worth by how much wild celery it had eaten. Naturalists and pond keepers have long prized the plant for the same reason ducks do, since a healthy stand of wild celery signals clean water and a thriving underwater world.

Safety.

Wild celery is not known to be toxic and is not eaten or brewed as tea; in some regions outside its native range it can spread aggressively in ponds, so check local guidance before introducing it.