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Lemna minor
Also called Lesser Duckweed, Duckweed, Small Duckweed, Water Lentil, Least Duckweed, Boggart, Groves
Common duckweed is a tiny free-floating aquatic plant that forms dense green carpets on still freshwater. It grows best in calm, nutrient-rich ponds with a pH of 6.5 to 8.
Lemna minor, the common duckweed or lesser duckweed, is a species of aquatic freshwater plant in the subfamily Lemnoideae of the arum family Araceae. L. minor is used as animal fodder, bioremediator, for wastewater nutrient recovery, and other applications.
For optimal growth conditions pH values between 6.5 and 8 are required. L. minor can grow at temperatures between 6 and 33 °C (43 and 91 °F). Growth of colonies is rapid, and the plants form a carpet covering still pools when conditions are suitable. In temperate regions, when temperatures drop below 6 to 7 °C (43 to 45 °F), small, dense, starch-filled organs called 'turions' are produced. The plants then become dormant and sink to the ground for overwintering. The following spring, they restart growing again and float back to the surface.
Duckweeds in general need some management effort to be cultivated. The small free floating plants are susceptible to being blown into heaps which results in open water surface allowing algal growth. For this reason, long narrow ponds running perpendicular to the prevailing wind are recommended. The equal distribution of added nutrients in the ponds can be achieved by several inlets. To maintain a dense cover of plants on the water surface and prevent a too thick layer for growth, coordinated harvesting and replenishment of nutrients are required.
Lemna minor has a subcosmopolitan distribution and is native throughout most of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. It is present wherever freshwater ponds and slow-moving streams occur, except for arctic and subarctic climates. It is not reported as native in Australasia or South America, though it is naturalised there.
Lesser duckweed · Swollen duckweed · Least duckweed · Minute duckweed · Star duckweed · Turion duckweed · Valdivia duckweed · Plants
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lemna minor by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
