Waterblommetjie (Cape pondweed)

Aponogeton distachyos

When: Typically June – October — June, July, August, September, October. Earlier in warm, low country; later in the hills.
Where it grows: Seasonal ponds and vleis 1–2 m deep in the winter-rainfall Cape, which often dry out in summer; farmed in dams for the market.
How to know it: Long-stalked, narrow-oval leaves floating flat on the water, and above them forked white flower spikes shaped like a 'Y', each branch lined with white petal-like bracts and dark purple-brown stamens, sweetly scented. The plant dies back as the pools dry in summer and regrows with the autumn rain.
Look-alikes: Nothing else in a Cape vlei carries a forked, white, scented flower spike above floating leaves.
Harvest and use: Pick the flower heads and buds, wash them well and cook them — above all in waterblommetjiebredie, the Cape stew of mutton or lamb, onions and potatoes, often with a few leaves of wild sorrel.
Caution: Most waterblommetjies sold are farmed, and nobody knows what wild picking does to the plant. In the wild, pick only with the landowner's permission, never in a reserve, and only from clean water: the plant is sensitive to herbicides and pesticides, and vleis by farms and roads collect run-off.

Waterblommetjie (Cape pondweed) at a glance

Also called: Cape pondweed, water hawthorn, vleikos
Family: Aponogetonaceae (the cape-pondweeds)
Where it grows: Native to South Africa's winter-rainfall region, above all the Western Cape, where CapeNature knows it from at least 100 places, and into the winter-rainfall parts of the Northern and Eastern Cape. Naturalised in ponds in Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and parts of Europe.
When to pick: Winter and spring, with the rain: flowering runs from about June to mid-October. In summer the pools dry out and the plant rests underground as a tuber.
Parts used: Only the flowers and flower buds. Not the leaves or tubers.

Questions people ask about waterblommetjie

What is a waterblommetjie?

The edible flower spike of Aponogeton distachyos, a floating water plant native to the Cape's winter-rainfall vleis. The Afrikaans name means 'little water flower', and it is cooked as a vegetable, most famously in waterblommetjiebredie.

When are waterblommetjies in season?

From about June to mid-October, while the plants flower in the winter rain.

What part of the waterblommetjie do you eat?

Only the flowers and buds. They are cooked with onions, mutton or lamb and potatoes, often with a few leaves of the local sorrel, to make waterblommetjiebredie.

Can I pick waterblommetjies in the wild?

Only with the landowner's permission and outside reserves. The plant is widespread and not threatened, but CapeNature notes that the impact of wild harvesting is unknown, and most waterblommetjies sold come from farm dams.

Found in these regions

Cape Fynbos & Winter-Rain Coast

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Also ready in October

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Baobab (fruit and leaves)
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How to know it & its look-alikes →
Photo: Cliff Tyllick · CC BY 4.0
Has a dangerous look-alike
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Upright or sprawling herbs, often with reddish stems, carrying alternate, oval to diamond-shaped, smooth-edged leaves on long stalks, and dense, bristly spikes of tiny green or reddish flowers at the top and in the leaf joints. No milky sap, no berries, no trumpet flowers. Spiny amaranth has a pair of sharp spines at each leaf base.
How to know it & its look-alikes →
Photo: Kevin Faccenda · CC BY 4.0
Has a dangerous look-alike
MushroomMay – October
Termite mushrooms (omajowa)
Termitomyces spp.
It grows out of a termite mound or the ground over a termite nest, never from wood. The cap usually has a pointed nipple at its centre, and the stem tapers into a long, tough root (pseudorhiza) that runs down — sometimes a metre or more — to the termites' fungus garden. Sizes run from a few centimetres (Termitomyces microcarpus, in crowds) to frying-pan caps of 15–40 cm (T. schimperi) and, in T. titanicus, up to a metre across.
How to know it & its look-alikes →
Photo: madhavan a.p · CC BY 4.0

Checked against these sources · last reviewed October 2026

Seasons are typical for the middle of the range and move by weeks north and south, and up and down hills.

Educational information only. Never eat a wild plant or mushroom identified from a single photograph or description — confirm with a regional field guide or an experienced forager, and know the poisonous species in your area first.

Waterblommetjie (Cape pondweed)

Aponogeton distachyos

When

Typically June – October — June, July, August, September, October. Earlier in warm, low country; later in the hills.

Where it grows

Seasonal ponds and vleis 1–2 m deep in the winter-rainfall Cape, which often dry out in summer; farmed in dams for the market.

How to know it

Long-stalked, narrow-oval leaves floating flat on the water, and above them forked white flower spikes shaped like a 'Y', each branch lined with white petal-like bracts and dark purple-brown stamens, sweetly scented. The plant dies back as the pools dry in summer and regrows with the autumn rain.

Look-alikes

Nothing else in a Cape vlei carries a forked, white, scented flower spike above floating leaves.

Harvest and use

Pick the flower heads and buds, wash them well and cook them — above all in waterblommetjiebredie, the Cape stew of mutton or lamb, onions and potatoes, often with a few leaves of wild sorrel.

Caution

Most waterblommetjies sold are farmed, and nobody knows what wild picking does to the plant. In the wild, pick only with the landowner's permission, never in a reserve, and only from clean water: the plant is sensitive to herbicides and pesticides, and vleis by farms and roads collect run-off.

Waterblommetjie (Cape pondweed) at a glance

Also called

Cape pondweed, water hawthorn, vleikos

Family

Aponogetonaceae (the cape-pondweeds)

Where it grows

Native to South Africa's winter-rainfall region, above all the Western Cape, where CapeNature knows it from at least 100 places, and into the winter-rainfall parts of the Northern and Eastern Cape. Naturalised in ponds in Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and parts of Europe.

When to pick

Winter and spring, with the rain: flowering runs from about June to mid-October. In summer the pools dry out and the plant rests underground as a tuber.

Parts used

Only the flowers and flower buds. Not the leaves or tubers.

Questions people ask about waterblommetjie