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Elodea nuttallii; photograph (c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-18

Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) H.St.John

Nuttall's waterweed; Western waterweed; Esthwaite Water-weed; Nutall waterweed

Hydrocharitaceae · British Columbia, Manitoba +42

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Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) Björn Sothmann, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) Björn Sothmann, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) deefinder200, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) deefinder200, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) deefinder200, some rights reserved (CC BY)Elodea nuttallii, photograph (c) deefinder200, some rights reserved (CC BY) 69 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-17.8°C
Record low -27.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
993mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
9–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Elodea nuttallii is a species of waterweed known by the common name western waterweed or Nuttall's waterweed. This is a perennial aquatic plant which is native to North America where it grows submersed in lakes, rivers, and other shallow water bodies. It is also found in Eurasia, where it is commonly weedy; it is not known as a weed species in its native range. It is sometimes used as an aquarium plant.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Elodea nuttallii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (778 mm of 1,010 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 28.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to May.

Rain

1,010 mm in the median year at the habitat, 778 mm of it April to November. Wettest month July at 114 mm, driest month February at 53 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 867 mm to 1,128 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 993 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,010 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -17.8 °C, the absolute minimum -27.7 °C, 5,163 frost nights in 44 years, 117.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -10.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -14.0 °C to -7.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.1 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -17.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -47 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Elodea nuttallii through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -10.2 °C; 1,010 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost27.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-27.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 9–40RH 56–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-2 / -5–00 / -3–25 / 3–813 / 11–1419 / 17–2024 / 23–2526 / 25–2725 / 24–2621 / 20–2214 / 13–157 / 4–90 / -3–2
Night °C-10 / -14–-8-9 / -12–-7-4 / -7–-33 / 1–410 / 8–1015 / 14–1618 / 16–1917 / 16–1813 / 12–147 / 5–81 / -2–2-6 / -11–-4
Rain mm55 / 29–7653 / 30–6860 / 46–7389 / 72–10094 / 81–107112 / 90–128114 / 88–120100 / 88–118100 / 97–11288 / 78–9981 / 55–10264 / 38–91
DLI11 / 11–1217 / 17–1825 / 25–2632 / 32–3238 / 37–3840 / 39–4140 / 39–4034 / 34–3526 / 25–2718 / 17–1911 / 10–129 / 8–10
RH %63 / 62–6561 / 60–6358 / 57–5956 / 55–5757 / 55–5960 / 57–6060 / 58–6161 / 59–6261 / 59–6260 / 58–6161 / 60–6263 / 62–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 4 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 915:2069 (44.225, -76.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -27.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -17.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 4 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 915:2069 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 81 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBritish Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia · introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Krym, China South-Central, Japan, Philippines · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“hydrosubshrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 6 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1 openly licensed one, which alone would put the marker 740 km away. 593 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.

Photographs

Elodea nuttallii, photograph 1did not loadElodea nuttallii, photograph 2did not loadElodea nuttallii, photograph 3did not loadElodea nuttallii, photograph 4did not loadElodea nuttallii, photograph 5did not loadElodea nuttallii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Björn Sothmann, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) deefinder200, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Quercus × bebbiana Quercus × bebbiana Bebb's oak Photo: CC BY, Rose ZappaRhus × pulvinata Rhus × pulvinata Northern smooth sumac Photo: CC BY, DerekCarex hystericina Carex hystericina Porcupine sedge Photo: CC BY, Patrick JacksonAllium tricoccum Allium tricoccum Ramp Photo: CC BY, Aiesha ParmarVitis riparia Vitis riparia Riverbank grape Photo: CC0, author not statedSymphyotrichum firmum Symphyotrichum firmum Shining aster Photo: CC BY, Shanze Yoell

Other Elodea 3 in the reference

Elodea canadensis Elodea canadensis Canadian waterweed Photo: CC BY, Jaime McGuiganElodea densa Elodea densa Large-flowered Waterweed Photo: CC BY, Leonel RogetElodea najas Elodea najas Hydrocharitaceae Photo: CC BY, Erasmo Macaya Horta

Names & registers

Also known as Anacharis nuttallii; Elodea columbiana; Elodea minor; Philotria minor; Philotria nuttallii and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Hydrocharitaceae
Described by
(Planch.) H.St.John
Native to
British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick +41
Wild records
6 in range · 1 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence search API; 9 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 8 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.00_-76.250, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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