Lemna (Araceae)
General description:
Fronds with 1 - 5 (7) veins and 1 to several layers of air spaces and raphides; pigment cells lacking; fronds not surrounded by a prophyll; 1 root per frond; pistil with 1 amphitrophous or atropous or 2 - 7 anatropous ovules; seeds 0.4 - 0.9 mm long, with 8-60 longitudinal ribs.
Diagnostic description:
Free floating aquatic plants reduced to small, leaf-like, poorly differentiated fronds; roots and veins present; lack calcium oxalate druses. Differs from Spirodela in having only 1 root per frond, 1-5 veins (rarely 7 in Lemna gibba ) and the base of the frond lacking a scale.
Diagnostic Description Reference:
Distribution Reference:
Distribution:
Cosmopolitan.