Lemna minuta

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Lemna minuta
Lemnaminuta.jpg
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Lemna
Species:
L. minuta
Binomial name
Lemna minuta
Synonyms

Lemna minuscula

Lemna minuta is a species of duckweed known by the common name least duckweed. [2] [3] It is the smallest Lemna species. [4] It is native to parts of the Americas, and naturalized in others; the exact native range is not known. It is found on other continents as a non-native introduction as well. The plant's distribution is ever-expanding; it has been spreading in Europe and it was described from Poland for the first time in 2007. [5] In many areas it is a noxious weed, such as in Belgium. [6]

This tiny plant varies in shape depending on growth conditions. In the shade it is a single green translucent oval body no more than 2.5 millimeters long, and in full sunlight it generally grows in pairs. There is a central vein usually visible under magnification and microscopy. The plant produces an ephemeral membrane-bound flower.

This duckweed grows in slow-moving, calm, and stagnant freshwater habitats. It affects the ecology of its habitat by forming mats on the water surface, reducing sunlight penetration and oxygen exchange. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lemna</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae

Lemna is a genus of free-floating aquatic plants referred to by the common name "duckweed". They are morphologically divergent members of the arum family Araceae. These rapidly growing plants have found uses as a model system for studies in community ecology, basic plant biology, ecotoxicology, and production of biopharmaceuticals, and as a source of animal feeds for agriculture and aquaculture. Currently, 14 species of Lemna are recognised.

<i>Lemna minor</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

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.

<i>Potamogeton natans</i> Species of aquatic plant

Potamogeton natans, commonly known as broad-leaved pondweed, floating pondweed, or floating-leaf pondweed, is an aquatic species in the genus Potamogeton native to quiet or slow-flowing freshwater habitats throughout the Holarctic Kingdom.

<i>Lemna trisulca</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

Lemna trisulca L. is a species of aquatic plants in the arum family Araceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution. Unlike other duckweeds, it has submerged rather than floating fronds, except when flowering or fruiting. Also unlike other duckweeds, a large number of fronds remain attached to each other at a time.

<i>Rosa majalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Rosa majalis is a species of deciduous shrubs in the genus Rosa, native to forests of Europe and Siberia. It grows to 2 m. and yields edible hip fruits rich in vitamin C, which are used in medicine and to produce rose hip syrup.

<i>Lemna gibba</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

Lemna gibba, the gibbous duckweed, swollen duckweed, or fat duckweed, is a species of Lemna (duckweed). It has a simple plant body, known as a thallus, which floats on the surface of the water and measures 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) in diameter. A single root hangs down into the water. Found in a wide range of still or slow-flowing water bodies, this common duckweed can also grow on mud or damp rocks.

<i>Cytisus multiflorus</i> Species of legume

Cytisus multiflorus is a species of legume known by the common names white broom, white spanishbroom and Portuguese broom.

<i>Lemna valdiviana</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

Lemna valdiviana is a species of duckweed known by the common name Valdivia duckweed. It is native to much of the Americas. It is a minute flowering plant which grows in mats on the surface of calm bodies of freshwater. The individual plant is a flat, translucent, pale green oval body 2 to 4 millimeters long. There is a longitudinal vein visible under magnification and microscopy. The body produces a root which may exceed a centimeter in length, and a tiny, ephemeral flower which is often encapsulated in a membrane. The plant often grows in clusters of two to seven individuals.

<i>Lycopodiella inundata</i> Species of spore-bearing plant

Lycopodiella inundata is a species of club moss known by the common names inundated club moss, marsh clubmoss and northern bog club moss. It has a circumpolar and circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic to montane temperate regions in Eurasia and North America. It grows in wet habitat, such as bogs, ponds, moist spots on the tundra, and long-standing borrow pits.

<i>Montia parvifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Montia parvifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names little-leaf miner's lettuce, small-leaved blinks and small-leaved montia. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Montana, where it grows in moist to wet areas in several types of mountain habitat.

<i>Carex disticha</i> Species of grass-like plant

Carex disticha is a Eurasian species of sedge known as the brown sedge or, in North America, tworank sedge.

<i>Polystichum lonchitis</i> Species of fern

Polystichum lonchitis is a species of fern known by the common name northern hollyfern, or simply holly-fern. It is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to Alaska to Greenland and south into mountainous central North America. It has stiff, glossy green, erect fronds and grows in moist, shady, rocky mountain habitats.

<i>Spergularia media</i> Species of flowering plant in the pink family Caryophyllaceae

Spergularia media is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names media sandspurry and greater sea-spurrey. It is native to Eurasia and the Mediterranean, where it grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas, including places with saline substrates, such as salt marshes and beaches. It is known in many other parts of the world as an introduced species and a common roadside weed. In North America it is a "highway halophyte", often springing up at the margins of roads that are heavily salted in the winter.

<i>Trifolium angustifolium</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Trifolium angustifolium is a species of clover known by the common names narrowleaf crimson clover, narrow clover and narrow-leaved clover.

<i>Scirpus ancistrochaetus</i> Species of grass-like plant

Scirpus ancistrochaetus is a rare species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names barbedbristle bulrush and northeastern bulrush. It is native to the northeastern United States from New Hampshire south to Virginia. It used to be found in Quebec but it is now thought to be extirpated there. It was also believed extirpated from the state of New York, but at least one population has been rediscovered in Steuben County in 2010. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its wetland habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species.

<i>Deinandra fasciculata</i> Species of flowering plant

Deinandra fasciculata, known by the common names clustered tarweed and fascicled spikeweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemnoideae</span> Subfamily of aquatic plants

Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose from within the arum or aroid family (Araceae), so often are classified as the subfamily Lemnoideae within the family Araceae. Other classifications, particularly those created prior to the end of the twentieth century, place them as a separate family, Lemnaceae.

<i>Oreojuncus trifidus</i> Species of rush

Oreojuncus trifidus is a species of rush known by the common names highland rush and three-leaved rush. It is native to the Northern Hemisphere, where it is an arctic/montane species with an amphi-atlantic distribution.

<i>Lemna aequinoctialis</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

Lemna aequinoctialis, the lesser duckweed, is a tiny, floating aquatic plant in the aroid family, found in quiet, still waters of the Southern U.S., as well as México and some Caribbean Islands. Additionally, it can be found from the state of Virginia south through Florida, north to Nebraska and even into southern Wisconsin. It is also widespread in the American Southwest, from Texas to the coast of California, preferring lagoons and still ponds, which it accesses via seasonal flooding and occasional precipitation. Fronds are generally triple-nerved, green, and measure up-to 6 mm long. Flowers are single-ovulate, with a small utricular scale open on one side. Seeds have 8–26 ribs.

<i>Helianthus decapetalus</i> Species of sunflower

Helianthus decapetalus, known by the common names thinleaf sunflower and thin-leaved sunflower, is a perennial forb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Eastern and Central United States and Canada, from New Brunswick west to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ontario, south as far as Georgia and Louisiana. It produces yellow composite flowers in late summer or early fall.

References

  1. Maiz-Tome, L. (2016). "Lemna minuta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T64316939A67729952. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64316939A67729952.en . Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Lemna minuta". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  4. Flora of Northern Ireland
  5. Banaszek, A. and K. Musiał. (2009). The new kenophyte in Poland - Lemna minuta Humb., Bonpl., & Kunth Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine . Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 78:1 69-72
  6. 1 2 Invasive Alien Species in Belgium: Lemna minuta