FLORA OF ICELAND elements: Potamogeton natans, Broad-leaved Pondweed, Blöðkunykra

Potamogeton natans; The Broad-leaved Pondweed is an aquatic plant with submerged stems reaching up to one meter in length or shorter.
  - Pondweeds can have different-shaped submerged and/or floating leaves. Some species have only submerged leaves but the Broad-leaved Pondweed seem to have only floating leaves. This though is not quite true. It does have submerged leaves but they lack leaf blades, while the leaf-stems are quite long. Returning to the floating leaves, they are elliptic in shape, 4-9cm long. Quite characteristic is a small notch on the petiole, a few centimeters behind the blade. At this notch there is often a small bend in the petiole. The petioles can be quite long. At the base of the petiole is a large stipule with two veins.
  - The flowers are placed in spikes emerging from the water. The flowers themselves are small. The spike is 1½ to 3½cm long.
  - On Iceland it is rather rare. It is found in different localities. It grows in rather deep ponds but also in waterways.
  - It is member of the Potamogetonaceae, the Pondweed family The Icelandic name for this species is Blöðkunykra.