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Although constructed wetlands (CWs) are used as one relatively low-cost technology for livestock wastewater treatment, the improvement of phosphorus removal in CWs is urgently needed. In this study, a three-stage pilot-scale CW system consisting of three surface flow CWs (SFCWs; CW1, CW2, and CW3) in series from inlet to outlet was constructed to treat swine wastewater (SW) from a lagoon. The CWs were planted with Myriophyllum aquaticum . Considering different inlet loading rates, three strengths of swine wastewater (low: 33% SW, medium: 66% SW, and high: 100% SW) were fed to the CW system to determine total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiency and clarify the important role of plant harvest. Results from the period 2014–2016 indicate that the three-stage CW system had mean TP cumulative removal efficiencies and removal rates of 78.2–89.8% and 0.412–0.779 g m − 2 d − 1 respectively, under different inlet loading rates. The TP removal efficiency and removal rate constant had temporal variations, which depended on temperature condition and the annual growth pattern of M . aquaticum . The harvested phosphorus mass was 15.1–40.9 g m − 2 yr − 1 in the CWs except for CW1 with high strength SW, and contributed 22.5–59.6% of TP mass removal rate by the SFCWs. The TP removal was mainly by adsorption and precipitation in the substrate in CW1 but by uptake and multiple harvests of M . aquaticum in CW2 and CW3. The results suggest the three-stage CW system planted with M . aquaticum is suited for removing high TP concentrations from swine wastewater with a high removal efficiency. However, TP removal in high strength SW amounted to 70.1 ± 23.3%, and the outflow concentration of 17.0 ± 14.9 mg L − 1 was still high. Optimal loading rates for high strength SW still need to be investigated for the CW system presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]