“…This study was undertaken for three reasons. ( 1) There have been no previous studies of the overall morphology and development of V. americana, although earlier workers published such accounts of V. spiralis (Picot-Lapeyrouse, 1799;.Tussieu, 1807;Richard, 1812;Quekett, 1843;Chatin, 1854Chatin, , 1855Irmisch, 1865;Rohrbach, 1871;Muller, 1878;Bugnon andJoffrin, 1962, 1963). Prior investigators studied mainly specific aspects of V. americana. (2) Important aspects of symmetry and development have been studied inadequately or not at all for any species of Valllsneria. For example, previous workers failed to provide convincing evidence as to whether the vegetative plant body is sympodial, monopodial, or both.…”