Tiny Wolfia Rootless

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Video: Tiny Wolfia Rootless

Video: Tiny Wolfia Rootless
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Tiny Wolfia Rootless
Tiny Wolfia Rootless
Anonim
Tiny Wolfia Rootless
Tiny Wolfia Rootless

Rootless wolfia is a tiny inhabitant of waters, which is a set of elliptical green plates about 1 mm in diameter, floating on the water surface. This is the smallest flowering plant of all currently existing, most often found in nature in the waters of Africa and Asia. And in Southeast Asia, wolfia is used for food and grown together with vegetables. This is due to the huge amount of vitamins, carbohydrates and proteins it contains. Also, this little beauty is a good mulch and a very valuable fertilizer

Getting to know the plant

Wolffia rootless - a representative of the Aroid family, subfamily Duckweed. This plant is tiny balls floating on the water surface, consuming various nutrient compounds dissolved in water. It is quite difficult to see them with the naked eye. A good half of these aquatic inhabitants are in constant division under rather favorable conditions.

The color of the leaves of a beautiful aquatic inhabitant is far from always only green - it is often possible to observe blotches of various pigments on them. The air cavities located in them are responsible for the buoyancy of these bizarre leaves. And on the upper flattened parts of the leaves, flower pits that give one inflorescence are located. Pollination of beautiful wolfia occurs with the help of the wind or various insects.

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Rootless wolfia flowers are formed by only one single pistil and stamen. This aquatic inhabitant blooms extremely rarely, mainly in summer.

The oval fruits of this plant reach no more than half a millimeter in length, and they are still half as wide in width. After ripening, wolfia seeds first grow on the plant itself, and after some time they break off and develop further on their own.

Wolffia hibernates at temperatures reaching 10 - 12 degrees. In the autumn-winter season, characterized by very unfavorable conditions, it sinks to the bottom of the reservoir and floats to the surface only in May, starting to reproduce in a vegetative way.

How to grow

The most preferred rootless for the miniature wolfia will be standing water. Small lakes are also good. In inappropriate conditions, it will not multiply, and running water is completely destructive for it. The lighting for the wolfia should be very bright, but slightly diffused, and its daylight hours should be at least twelve hours. In natural light, wolfia also develops quite well, but still, in this case, it will need protection from direct sunlight.

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Wolffia propagates rootless by division. Under favorable conditions, its reproduction is very easy. Having reached the most optimal size, the wolfia is immediately divided into several parts, which turn into independent plants. And as soon as they grow up, the reproduction process will be repeated.

When grown in aquariums, this aquatic beauty is quite undemanding, including to the temperature regime - it will not slow down growth even when the temperature drops to 14-16 degrees. It tolerates both hard and soft water equally well, despite the fact that slightly acidic soft water is ideal for it. Part of the water, by the way, should be systematically replaced. And so that the plant does not die from bacterial rot, the water surface should be in constant motion, and the bacterial film that forms on the surface should be removed as it forms. Rootless wolfia can be a pretty good addition to the diet of a number of fish, but for these purposes it is still better to grow it separately. It also serves as an excellent shade for numerous aquarium plants that need diffused light.

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