2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Duckweed are tiny perennials that float in huge numbers on the surfaces of various reservoirs with stagnant fresh water. You can meet duckweed in almost all countries of the world - it feels equally well in tropical and temperate climates. Moreover, it is an excellent forage for a variety of animals and birds, and also has medicinal properties
Getting to know the plant
Duckweed is a representative of the Aroid family, and somewhat earlier it was attributed to the family of the same name Duckweed. This is a very interesting perennial - only tropical duckweed is an annual among the duckweeds. Duckweeds are considered the most reduced among all flowering plants: they do not have dissection into leaves and stems. Their entire body is represented by fronds - this is the name for the green plates carrying one root from below, on the sides of which there are lamellar shoots sitting in hollows-pockets. These shoots gradually grow, after which they separate - this is how this miniature aquatic plant reproduces.
Leaves of duckweed are equipped with small veins - from one to seven pieces. These veins contain one or more layers of air cavities that allow the duckweed to float on the water. And the leaves themselves can be of the most diverse shapes - elliptical, linear, lanceolate or round. Their width is about five millimeters, and their length is about two and a half.
Blooming duckweed is extremely rare. Her flowers are unisexual, rather inconspicuous and small. They appear in pockets and are collected in small inflorescences. But the perianths of the duckweed are absent.
Duckweed fruits are sacs equipped with a keel and pterygoid outgrowths that allow them to stay on the water. The seeds reach a length of 0, 4 - 0, 9 mm, endowed with longitudinal ribs (from eight to sixty pieces) and a rather thick skin.
Use of duckweed
Duckweed is an excellent high-calorie food for turtles, ducks, geese, chickens and pigs. Nutria and muskrats also willingly eat it. The duckweed is also useful for compost.
This tiny inhabitant of reservoirs contains iodine and bromine salts, and ascorbic acid is practically absent in it. Being in water, duckweed releases a fairly substantial amount of oxygen into it, improving and thereby increasing the drinking quality of such water.
Duckweed can also be treated - it is an excellent antipyretic and desensitizing agent. Moreover, not so long ago, its anti-carcinogenic effect was also established. Alcoholic tincture of duckweed (on vodka) is used not only as an antipyretic, but also as a choleretic, analgesic and antihelminthic agent. In addition, it can be used to cure a number of allergic diseases - edema, urticaria and some others. Duckweed is also excellent for treating eye diseases, especially glaucoma. However, long-term use of it should be abandoned by people suffering from vegetative-vascular dystonia.
How to grow
For growing this tiny pet, reservoirs with slow flowing or stagnant water are perfect. Duckweed is a light-loving plant, therefore good lighting is required for its full development.
Duckweed reproduces at a tremendous speed in a vegetative way - each frond buds new particles connecting with each other, which give rise to their new relatives.
All varieties of duckweed are resistant to cold. The duckweed is quite unpretentious in care, however, it is necessary to constantly monitor that this aquatic inhabitant does not begin to grow rapidly. To prevent it, you should periodically purify the water.
The multi-rooted duckweed and the humpback duckweed are especially aggressive - it is necessary to limit their distribution with special care. To this end, using a net or a garden hose, all the vegetation is driven to one place, and then the excess is caught with a net.
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