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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Sago Pondweed
Potamogeton pectinatus L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Pondweed (Potamogetonaceae)
Flowering: June-September
Field Marks: All the leaves of saga pondweed are extremely narrow, never more than 1/20 inch wide. The yellow-brown fruits have a short, pointed beak.
Habitat: Shallow to somewhat deep, usually fresh water.
Habit: Submersed perennial, usually with small tubers.
Stems: Very slender, up to 1/20 inch wide, dichotomously branched, up to 2-3 feet long.
Leaves: Alternate or subopposite, all submersed, very narrow, up to 4 inches long, up to 1/20 inch wide.
Flowers: Very tiny, crowded into short, slender spikes, the spikes up to 2 inches long, arranged in 2-7 whorls, each spike on thread-like stalks up to 6 inches long.
Sepals: 4, greenish, bract-like.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 4, each one attached to the base of a sepal.
Pistils: 4, free from each other.
Fruits: 4 in a cluster, yellow-brown, obovoid, 1/6-1/4 inch long, with a short, pointed beak.
Notes: The small tubers of this species are starchy and are used as a source of food for waterfowl and muskrats.

Previous Species -- Long-leaf Pondweed (Potamogeton nodosus)
Return to Species List -- Group 4
Next Species -- White-stem Pondweed (Potamogeton praelongus)

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/4/potapect.htm
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