Water Milfoil is a genus of about 45 species of freshwater aquatic plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Its name comes from Greek, "myri" meaning "too many to count", and "phyll", meaning "leaf". The leaves above the water are stiffer and smaller than the submerged leaves on the same plant. The flowers are small with four petals and are borne in the leaf axils or in a terminal, emergent spike. It has a long soft but fairly brittle stem. Various Species of Water milfoil have become invasive species in water bodies of nearly every state in the continental U.S. Furthermore, a common species, Eurasian Water Milfoil, is often controlled with pesticides.
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