Sparganium hyperboreumLaest. ex Beurl.

northern bur-reed

WFO wfo-0000553962 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 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.

Sparganium hyperboreum, photographed by Todd Boland
fig. a Todd Boland, CC BY 4.0 / 2014-08-04 / obs. 112281924
Sparganium hyperboreum, photographed by Valerii Glazunov
fig. b Valerii Glazunov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154736144
Sparganium hyperboreum, photographed by Valerii Glazunov
fig. c Valerii Glazunov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154736123
Sparganium hyperboreum, photographed by Valerii Glazunov
fig. d Valerii Glazunov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 149343243
Sparganium hyperboreum, photographed by Valerii Glazunov
fig. e Valerii Glazunov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 149343252

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 38 botanical countries

Regions where Sparganium hyperboreum is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, Primorye, Sakhalin, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Finland, Iceland, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanManchuriaPrimoryeSakhalinTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaFinlandIcelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandLabradorNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioPrince Edward I.QuébecYukon Korea
Native distribution of Sparganium hyperboreum, 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
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Labrador LAB
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Yukon YUK
Finland FIN EUROPE
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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.

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.

  • Sparganium affine var. zosterifolium Neuman
  • Sparganium hyperboreum var. platyphyllum Neuman
  • Sparganium natans var. submuticum Hartm.
  • Sparganium submuticum (Hartm.) Neuman
  • Sparganium williamsii Rydb.

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.