Aponogeton ranunculiflorus, the Sehlabathebe water lily, is a tiny and endangered species[3] of aquatic plant, that belongs to the pondweed family Aponogetonaceae. It is protected in the Sehlabathebe National Park in the mountains of Lesotho, where it is very localized,[3] and nearby in the uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.[1] Outside these areas it is seriously threatened. It is found in sandstone rock pools, up to 7 metres deep, and in permanently wet tarns or sensitive high altitude mires,[1] at altitudes between about 2,600 and 3,200 metres. Its spiralled stems allow the flowers to remain at surface level.[3] Threats to the species include overgrazing and trampling by cattle, overburning, erosion and subsistence farming.[1] Their small (1 cm) corms can survive the drying out of the pools, or being frozen into the muddy bottoms.[4]

Sehlabathebe water lily
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Aponogetonaceae
Genus:	Aponogeton
Species:	A. ranunculiflorus
Binomial name
Aponogeton ranunculiflorus Jacot Guill. & Marais, 1972[2]

References

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