Lemna trisulca

Lemna trisulca
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Lemna
Species:
L. trisulca
Binomial name
Lemna trisulca

Lemna trisulca L. (syn. Staurogeton trisulcus (L.) Schur; star duckweed;[1] ivy-leaved duckweed[2]) 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 (up to 12-14m below the surface[3]), except when flowering or fruiting. Also unlike other duckweeds, a large number of fronds remain attached to each other at a time.

Description

The fronds usually grow submerged and are oblong-lanceolate in shape and are up to 14 mm long. They are blunt at the end and taper to a tail-like stalk at the other.[4]

The flowering fronds are smaller than the vegetative fronds and somewhat curl up from under the water to the surface to present the flowers [5] (to a casual look this may cause the flowering fronds to resemble reddened duckweeds more of the L. minor format with white flower spots, with obvious greener L. trisulca directly beneath); illustration photo of flowers.

Distribution

Lemna trisulca submerged beneath a pool of water.

This species is widely distributed in cool-temperate regions, including Great Britain and Ireland,[6][7] Asia (Bangladesh, China (Northern, Western, Southern [Yunnan]), Taiwan, India (Eastern, Northern), Indonesia (Sumatra, New Guinea), Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines); Europe; Oceania; N. America; and S. America.[8]

References

  1. ^ NRCS. "Lemna trisulca". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  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. ^ Pip, Eva; Simmons, Kent (1986). "Aquatic angiosperms at unusual depths in Shoal Lake, Manitoba-Ontario". The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 100 (3): 354–358. doi:10.5962/p.355648. hdl:10680/1293. ISSN 0008-3550.
  4. ^ Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
  5. ^ "Article in Limnologica April 2021".
  6. ^ Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 04656 4
  7. ^ Hackney, P. (Ed.) 1992. Stewart & Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Institute of Irish Studies. The Queen's University of Belfast. ISBN 0 85389 446 9(HB)
  8. ^ Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, Nb. Tanaka, Nr. Tanaka, and J. Murata (umpubl.) New or noteworthy plant collections from Myanmar (8) Blyxa aubertii var. echinosperma, Lemna trisulca, and Najas tenuis. APG: Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica xx: xxx-xxx.


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