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Asian watermeal

Wolffia globosa

Asian watermeal
Photo: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Araceae (Arum family)
Grows as
Aquatic
Water
Likes moisture
Native range
Trop. & Subtrop. Asia
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Wolffia globosa is a species of flowering plant known by the common names Asian watermeal and duckweed. It is native to Asia and is found in parts of the Americas and Africa, where it is an introduced species. It grows in mats on the surface of calm, freshwater bodies, such as ponds, lakes, and marshes. It is a very tiny, oval-shaped plant with no leaves, stems, or roots. The body of the plant, a transparent green frond, is less than a millimeter wide. In one human experiment, processed W. globosa was reported to provide dietary protein and vitamin B12.

Wolffia globosa has been described as the world's smallest flowering plant, at 0.1–0.2 mm (0.004–0.008 in) in diameter.

Other Wolffia plants

Narrow Duckweed · Spotless watermeal · Wolffia australiana · Northern watermeal · Brazilian watermeal · Columbian watermeal · Wolffia elongata · Watermeal

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Wolffia globosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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.

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