''Aponogeton ranunculiflorus'', the Sehlabathebe water lily, is a tiny and endangered species of aquatic plant, that belongs to the pondweed family

Aponogetonaceae The Aponogetonaceae (the Cape-pondweed family or aponogeton family) are a family of flowering plants in the order Alismatales. In recent decades the family has had universal recognition by taxonomists. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (20 ...

. It is protected in the

Sehlabathebe National Park The Sehlabathebe National Park is located in the Maloti Mountains in Qacha's Nek District, Lesotho and is part of the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site. The park was first established on 8 May 1969 and since then, is recognised as importa ...

in the mountains of

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

, where it is very localised, and nearby in the uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Outside these areas it is seriously threatened. It is found in sandstone rock pools, up to 7 metres deep, and in permanently wet

tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or "corrie") excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mou ...

or sensitive high altitude

mire A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...

s, at altitudes between about 2,600 and 3,200 metres. Its spiralled stems allow the flowers to remain at surface level. Threats to the species include

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...

and trampling by cattle, overburning, erosion and subsistence farming. Their small (1 cm)

corms Corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen, underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ( perennation). The word '' ...

can survive the drying out of the pools, or being frozen into the muddy bottoms.

References

ranunculiflorus Freshwater plants Flora of Lesotho Flora of KwaZulu-Natal {{Alismatales-stub