A northern species primarily known from softwater lakes and bays of Lake Superior and the St. Mary’s River.

This is a neat, slender plant, with rather dense very short leaves on an often sinuous, much-branched stem ca. 0.3–1 (–1.5) mm thick.

The St. Clair Co. record seems quite out of line, and was not mapped in Michigan Flora, but there seems to be no evidence of mis-labeling. The plant is known from a few more southern station to the east and west of Michigan.