Potamogeton vaginatus),[1] commonly called sheathed pondweed,[2] big sheathed pondweed or large-sheathed pondweed is a water plant species[3] that grows in fresh and brackish water in Europe,[citation needed] Northern Asia (excluding China) and North America.

[4] Sheathed pondweed is rare, but is not in the 2012 IUCN Red List.

Stuckenia vaginata is a fully submerged aquatic plant and does not have any floating or emerged leaves.

Reproduction can either be vegetative with tubers and plant fragments or sexual with seeds.

The main difference between Stuckenia and Potamogeton is that the stipule joins the leaf base; when it is pulled the sheath and stipule comes away, similar to a grass sheath and ligule.