Potamogeton schweinfurthiiA.Benn.

WFO wfo-0000769983 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 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 schweinfurthii, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. a Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-17 / obs. 164733482
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team
fig. b Wilderness Safaris Botswana - Conservation Team, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 49581597
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Andre Hosper
fig. c Andre Hosper, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 34124606
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Lucy Keith-Diagne
fig. d Lucy Keith-Diagne, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170340557
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. e Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 15236016
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Lucy Keith-Diagne
fig. f Lucy Keith-Diagne, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183887601
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Andrew Deacon
fig. g Andrew Deacon, CC0 1.0 / obs. 15796105
Potamogeton schweinfurthii, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. h Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164733517

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 52 botanical countries

Regions where Potamogeton schweinfurthii is native: Algeria, Azores, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gulf States, Iran, Türkiye, Yemen, Corse, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain AlgeriaBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEgyptEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLibyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTunisiaUgandaZambiaZimbabweGulf StatesIranTürkiyeYemenCorseGreeceItalyKritiPortugalSiciliaSpain AzoresSardegna
Native distribution of Potamogeton schweinfurthii, 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
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Libya LBY
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Tunisia TUN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Corse COR EUROPE
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Gulf States GST ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Türkiye TUR
Yemen YEM

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 78 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 4.7 °C 9.0 °C 17.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.4 °C 30.0 °C 34.0 °C
Annual rainfall 336 mm 625 mm 1,055 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 2 mm 21 mm 143 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 78 research-grade observations of Potamogeton schweinfurthii 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 6 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 bunyonyiensis Denny & Lye
  • Potamogeton capensis Scheele ex A.Benn.
  • Potamogeton capensis Schelle ex Hagstr.
  • Potamogeton promontoricus Hagstr.
  • Potamogeton repens Hagstr.
  • Potamogeton venosus A.Benn.

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.