ABSTRACT
Duck potato is native to most of the eastern and several western states of the United States, all of the provinces of Canada, and extends southward to South America. The species commonly grows in swamps, bogs, ditches, the edges of lakes, ponds, and stream margins. Duck potato is very widely planted to provide habitat, food, and cover for wildlife, particularly waterfowl. Wild food enthusiasts collecting duck potato from aquatic habitats need to be extremely careful not to accidentally harvest poisonous water plants, or to collect from polluted waters. The great difficulty with numerous “root crops” is that they need to compete with the king of this category, the potato, and the more similar the taste is to potatoes, the more difficult it is to gain a market foothold. Nevertheless, duck potatoes have a genuinely attractive taste, the plants are productive, and there is at least a possibility of it acquiring a market niche in the future.
