Thalassia testudinumBanks & Sol. ex K.D.Koenig

Turtlegrassturtlegrass

WFO wfo-0000770149 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Thalassia testudinum, photographed by Eric Knight
fig. a Eric Knight, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-09 / obs. 205043567
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by ritirene
fig. b ritirene, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203874607
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. c Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187956693
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. d Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187957164
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by stinger
fig. e stinger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195737304
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by Julio-César Chávez
fig. f Julio-César Chávez, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184383159
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by Abby Darrah
fig. g Abby Darrah, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184960710
Thalassia testudinum, photographed by ritirene
fig. h ritirene, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183623467

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 Thalassia testudinum is native: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Texas, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. AlabamaFloridaLouisianaMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastTexasBelizeColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela ArubaBahamasBermudaCayman Is.Leeward Is.Netherlands AntillesTurks-Caicos Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Thalassia testudinum, 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
Aruba ARU SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Florida FLA
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Texas TEX

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 1 synonym

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.

  • Thalassia vitrariorum Pers.

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.