Myriophyllum sibiricumKom.

Northern Watermilfoilshortspike watermilfoil

WFO wfo-0001065238 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Myriophyllum sibiricum, photographed by Вячеслав Юсупов
fig. a Вячеслав Юсупов, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-05 / obs. 162300926

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
850736
Filed as
Myriophyllum sibiricum Kom.
Det. by
N. D. Atwood
Collected
N. D. Atwood 2006-06-22
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 83 botanical countries

Regions where Myriophyllum sibiricum is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Tibet, Tuva, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Central European Russia, East European Russia, Finland, Iceland, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Greenland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskKamchatkaKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTibetTuvaWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaCentral European RussiaEast European RussiaFinlandIcelandNorthwest European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutGreenlandIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTexasUtahVermontWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukon DelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Myriophyllum sibiricum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Tibet CHT
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Central European Russia RUC EUROPE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Iceland ICE
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 923 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -26.3 °C -14.5 °C -2.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.4 °C 23.4 °C 27.8 °C
Annual rainfall 325 mm 652 mm 1,077 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 17 mm 76 mm 200 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 923 research-grade observations of Myriophyllum sibiricum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Myriophyllum exalbescens Fernald
  • Myriophyllum exalbescens var. magdalenense (Fernald) Á.Löve
  • Myriophyllum magdalenense Fernald
  • Myriophyllum spicatum subsp. exalbescens (Fernald) Hultén
  • Myriophyllum spicatum var. capillaceum Lange
  • Myriophyllum spicatum var. exalbescens (Fernald) Jeps.
  • Myriophyllum spicatum var. muricatum Maxim.
  • Myriophyllum spicatum var. squamosum Laest. ex Hartm.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.