Encyclopedia - Plants for ponds

Floating pondweed

Potamogeton natans

Back to catalogue

Family Potamogetonaceae. The most noticeable are pondweeds with floating leaves. One is even called the floating pondweed (P. natans) with glossy, lacquer-like, oval leaves floating on the surface.

Underwater leaves do not persist until flowering. If the body of water dries up, it continues to live in a terrestrial form with leathery, heart-shaped leaves on petioles. A common plant of lakes, ponds, and streams. It prefers slowly moving water. The spike-like inflorescence is greenish, rises above the water, and flowers in June–August.

Floating pondweed Floating pondweed