Spirodela

Spirodela
Spirodela polyrrhiza
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Lemnoideae
Genus: Spirodela
Schleid.
Synonyms

Landoltia Les & D.J.Crawford

Spirodela is a genus of aquatic plants, one of several genera containing plants commonly called duckweed. Spirodela species are members of the Araceae family under the APG II system. They were formerly members of the subfamily Lemnaceae.

Description

Spirodela species are free-floating plants with stems transformed into leaf-like structures called fronds; each plant is represented by a frond with roots; therefore, they do not have leaves. Two to five plants may remain connected to each other.

The plants are green but may turn red due to the presence of anthocyanin. Multiple roots (5 to 20, depending on the species) emerge from each frond. Spirodela is larger (10 mm) than the Lemna genus (2 mm – 5 mm), which also has only one root per frond.

Certain species of Spirodela overwinter as turions, dormant, starchy shoots that lack air pockets, which sink to the bottom of the water. In spring, turions rise to the surface and germinate.

Spirodela often forms floating mats with related species (e.g. Lemna and Wolffia).

The genus is cosmopolitan in distribution.

Species

As of December 2025, Plants of the World Online accepts the following four species:


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Spirodela Schleid". Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2025. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. ↑ Landolt, E. (1986) Biosystematic investigations in the family of duckweeds (Lemnaceae). Vol. 2. The family of Lemnaceae - A monographic study. Part 1 of the monograph: Morphology; karyology; ecology; geographic distribution; systematic position; nomenclature; descriptions. Veröff. Geobot. Inst., Stiftung Rübel, ETH, Zurich.
  4. 1 2 3 Schou, Jens Christian; Moeslund, Bjarne; van de Weyer, Klaus; Wiegleb, Gerhard; Lansdown, Richard; Holm, Peter; Båstrup-Spohr, Lars; Sand-Jensen, Kaj (2023). Aquatic plants of northern and central Europe including Britain and Ireland. Wildguides. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-25101-1.
  5. ↑ Flora of North America