It occurs primarily in Central Europe, the British Isles, Fennoscandia and eastern North America.

The submerged leaves are long, rather grass-like, sessile, translucent leaves that are 48–85 (rarely up to 100) mm long and 1.5–3.55 mm wide and pale green, often with a very marked reddish or brownish tinge[3] and a pink tinge along the midrib.

The combination of open stipules, rounded tips to the leaves, dense flower spikes and a tendency to produce a mass of bushy growth at the surface all help to distinguish this plant, but use of a botanical key or flora is recommended.

[1] Blunt-leaved pondweed was first described in 1823 by Franz Carl Mertens and Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch.

Wang et al.[6] have suggested based on DNA analysis that P. obtusifolius may have arisen through hybridisation between P. compressus and P. pusillus.

Potamogeton obtusifolius has a wide global distribution, occurring in North America (Canada, northern US),[7] Europe (Scandinavia, Central Europe, N Balkans, Great Britain, Ireland, France, N Spain),[8] Asia (NE China (Heilongjiang Province), Russia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Caucasus, Iran).

[3] It is strictly a lowland plant and rarely observed in running water, except where current speeds are very slow.

Although its wide ecological tolerance suggests it may not be difficult to grow, it would probably require a deeper substrate than is usual in most ponds.