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Alpine pondweed

Potamogeton alpinus

Also called Red Pondweed, Reddish Pondweed, Northern Pondweed

Alpine pondweed
Photo: Alexander Bobrov, CC BY 3.0

Alpine pondweed is a perennial submerged aquatic herb found in clean rivers and lakes across the Northern Hemisphere. It grows best in deep, fine mud with good water quality, and it is rarely grown on purpose because it competes poorly with other pond plants.

Family
Potamogetonaceae (Potamogeton family)
Grows as
Aquatic, Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Grows submerged in water; keep it fully immersed in clean, unpolluted water.
Soil
Deep, fine mud or silt substrate.
Temperature
Cold-tolerant, suited to temperate and northern climates; protect from freezing solid.
How easy
Hard
Native range
Temp. Northern Hemisphere
Climate
temperate

About

Potamogeton alpinus is a species of perennial aquatic plant known by the common names alpine pondweed and red pondweed. It is widespread in the northern hemisphere in both rivers and lakes with good water quality.

How to grow it

Potamogeton alpinus is not in widespread cultivation, and seems to be rather difficult to maintain, competing poorly with other pond plants. It is possible that this is related to its preference for a deep fine substrate. In common with other pondweeds of this group it roots poorly from stem cuttings and is best propagated by division of the rhizomes.

Where it grows

Red pondweed is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere, including Asia (Afghanistan, China (Heilongjiang), India (Assam), Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan), Europe (Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Estonia, France including Corsica, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain (Pyrenees), Sweden, Switzerland), Greenland, Canada, and the northern United States, especially the Rockies.

Other Potamogeton plants

Small Pondweed · Fen Pondweed · Grass-wrack pondweed · Curly pondweed · Little-leaf pondweed · Pondweed · Waterthread pondweed · Ribbonleaf pondweed · Variableleaf pondweed · Illinois pondweed · Potamogeton ×inbaensis · Shining Pondweed

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Potamogeton alpinus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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