General: Perennial from a stout taproot, hairless or sometimes sparsely hairy; stems erect, usually single and unbranched below inflorescence, usually reddish-tinged, 0.5-2 m tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves several, oblong egg-shaped to oblong lance-shaped, 6-40 cm long, 3-15 cm wide, long-stalked, heart-shaped to square off at base, usually with somewhat wavy or crisped margins; stem leaves few, smaller; sheathing stipules at leaf bases.
Flowers: Greenish, small, inconspicuous; numerous in large, dense, rather narrow panicle that has a few leafy bracts in the lower part.
Fruits: Achenes, lustrous brown, 3-angled, enveloped in the inner 3 flower scales which are greatly enlarged (4-10 cm) in fruit, net veined, but without grain-like swellings; stalks obscurely jointed near midlength.
Ecology: Moist to wet meadows, shorelines, stream-banks, tideflats, beaches; low to middle elevations; scattered but locally common throughout our region, rare in southeast Alaska.