Family:  Araceae
Scientific name:  Lemna minor
Common name:  Common duckweed

Native of:  North America

Greenhouse location:  Rooms G and I

Common duckweed (Lemna minor) is one of the smallest flowering plants in the world. It grows on the surface of water, rapidly colonizing lakes and ponds by producing vegetative offsets and seeds. One plant produces two plantlets and those grow to produce two plantlets and so on until a dense colony of plants is formed.

This tiny hitchhiker can be dispersed to other bodies of water by birds. The plant's single, sticky root adheres to the feet and feathers of ducks (hence the name duckweed) and other water birds, allowing the plant to hitch a ride and colonize new ponds.

Common duckweed is very useful in polluted wetland remediation. It is used for animal fodder and in wastewater nutrient recovery. And, it is a test organism for environmental studies, including phytotoxicity.

Interestingly, this plant with a flower about 1 mm in diameter is in the same family as the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) which bears the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. Both are members of the family Araceae.