Pontederia natansP.Beauv.

WFO wfo-0000501146 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. a Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-10-18 / obs. 101478638
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. b Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101478816
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. c Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101478858
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. d Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101478787
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. e Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101478733
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. f Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101479023
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. g Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101479098
Pontederia natans, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. h Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101478932

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.

Native range 31 botanical countries

Regions where Pontederia natans is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Caprivi Strip, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaCaprivi StripCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEgyptGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauIvory CoastLiberiaMadagascarMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Pontederia natans, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Caprivi Strip CPV
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Ivory Coast IVO
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

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.

Also published as 5 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.

  • Eichhornia natans (P.Beauv.)Solms
  • Eichhornia natans var. pauciflora (Seub. ex Mart.) Solms
  • Eichhornia pauciflora Seub.
  • Leptosomus natans (P.Beauv.)Schlecht.
  • Piaropus natans (P.Beauv.) Kuntze

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. 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.