Grass-wrack Pondweed (Potamogeton compressus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Aquatic plant |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Potamogeton compressus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | EN at GB & Eng level; |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | None of the 2010 final BAP actions have happened - decline difficult to assess |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Improvement of river water quality probably important, tied to catchment management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Monitoring v difficult due to false positives (floating fragments) |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Devise and apply effective population monitoring that takes into account tendency for floating fragments to be recorded
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Management must relate to rooted perennial plants, not fragments or turions
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Restore river habitats in Norfolk and reintroduce
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: All.
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Reduce/eliminate boat traffic at key sites
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites: Depends on monitoring returns (see Action 1)
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.