Ivy-leaved duckweed
Lemna trisulca
The ivy-leaved duckweed is a perennial, mostly submerged aquatic plant that forms characteristic chains of leaf-like fronds. Unlike other duckweeds, it usually floats beneath the water surface and only rises to the surface during its rare flowering period. The individual fronds are oblong-lanceolate, serrated at the tip, and connected by long stalks.
Details
Oxygen production
High, as the plant assimilates while submerged and releases oxygen directly into the water.
Habitat function
Important habitat and spawning substrate for amphibians, fish, and insect larvae.
Nutrient uptake
Very efficient uptake of dissolved nitrate and phosphate.
Food source for
Mallards, moorhens, grass carp, and various aquatic invertebrates.
Human use
Used as an ornamental plant in aquaria and garden ponds; used in phytoremediation research.
Ecology
Ecological role
Provides hiding places for juvenile fish and invertebrates; produces oxygen below the water surface.
Natural predators
Waterfowl, fish (e.g., rudd), aquatic insects, and snails.
Competitor species
Other duckweeds (Lemna minor) and filamentous green algae under high nutrient loads.
Ecosystem service
Nutrient removal from water, habitat formation for aquatic microfauna.
Threats
Destruction of small water bodies, excessive eutrophication, and herbicide input.
Scientific profile
Profile
Reproduction
Mainly vegetative through budding, where daughter fronds remain attached to the parent plant. Generative reproduction via seeds is rare and occurs only at high water temperatures.
Protection & threats
Main threats
Eutrophication (excessive nutrient input leads to algal mats that smother Lemna), herbicide runoff from agriculture, and destruction of small water bodies.