Wildflower (forb) · Najadaceae
Nodding waternymph
Najas flexilis
Nodding waternymph is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 444 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Nodding waternymph at a glance
- Native in
- 444 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12a PLANTS minimum temperature 47°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 12a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 47°F; zone 12a winters bottom out at 50°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Nodding waternymph is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 444 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 444 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 5 counties
- California 5 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 4 counties
- Illinois 30 counties
- Indiana 15 counties
- Iowa 2 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 67 counties
- Minnesota 43 counties
- Missouri 1 county
- Montana 3 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 12 counties
- New York 48 counties
- North Dakota 5 counties
- Ohio 16 counties
- Oregon 8 counties
- Pennsylvania 31 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Dakota 6 counties
- Utah 1 county
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 13 counties
- Washington 12 counties
- West Virginia 6 counties
- Wisconsin 54 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Colonizing
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- Not recorded
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6.5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- Not recorded
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 47°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- Not recorded
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Green
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Najadaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- NAFL
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Najas flexilis (PLANTS symbol NAFL).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources