Potamogeton friesiiRupr.

Flat-stalked PondweedFries' pondweed

WFO wfo-0000769826 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, 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.

Potamogeton friesii, photographed by Matt Berger
fig. a Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-13 / obs. 145307794

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
01804644
Filed as
Potamogeton friesii Rupr.
Det. by
R. R. Haynes 1971-01-01
Collected
P. A. Rydberg 1905-08-10
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 76 botanical countries

Regions where Potamogeton friesii is native: Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Tadzhikistan, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayBuryatiyaChitaInner MongoliaIranIrkutskKamchatkaKazakhstanKrasnoyarskMagadanTadzhikistanTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyIrelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaUtahVermontWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukon Rhode I.
Native distribution of Potamogeton friesii, 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
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. 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 91 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -19.3 °C -13.8 °C -4.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.4 °C 22.8 °C 26.1 °C
Annual rainfall 381 mm 627 mm 879 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 40 mm 91 mm 160 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 91 research-grade observations of Potamogeton friesii 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 17 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.

  • Potamogeton acutifolius J.Presl & C.Presl
  • Potamogeton major Morong
  • Potamogeton mucronatus Schrad. ex Sond.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus f. acutus G.Fisch.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus f. angustifolius (G.Fisch.) Hagstr.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus f. latifolius (R.Ruthe ex G.Fisch.) Hagstr.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus f. minor Tiselius
  • Potamogeton mucronatus f. obtusior G.Fisch.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus var. angustifolius G.Fisch.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus var. latifolius R.Ruthe ex G.Fisch.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus var. major R.Ruthe ex G.Fisch.
  • Potamogeton mucronatus var. obtusior (G.Fisch.) Graebn.
  • Potamogeton oederi G.Mey.
  • Potamogeton pusillus subsp. friesii (Rupr.) Hook.f.
  • Potamogeton pusillus subsp. mucronatus (Schrad. ex Sond.) Čelak.
  • Potamogeton pusillus var. mucronatus (Schrad. ex Sond.) Hook.f.
  • Spirillus friesii (Rupr.) Nieuwl.

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.