August 2025
LATIN NAME: Wolffia spp.
COMMON NAME: Watermeal
FAMILY: Araceae
TYPE: Aquatic Plant
LOCATION AT BLOEDEL RESERVE: Ponds
GARDEN USES: Aquatic Garden, Compost Amendment
FUN FACT: Wolffia spp., also called watermeal, can be found in high numbers in the Bloedel’s Mid-Pond. Growing to be a sheet of lime green that will completely cover a body of water, watermeal is the smallest plant in the world. Wolffia spp. has 11 species in its genus, 3 of which are native to North America. It can be difficult to differentiate between Wolffia species because of their simple form that is found across many species. This plant is apart of the Araceae family, the same monocot family as calla lilies and skunk cabbage. Often, you will see this species growing alongside its close relatives, duckweed.
In the Mid-Pond, we have mainly watermeal and some duckweed (Spirodela spp.). Wolffia spp. will most commonly reproduce through asexual budding (cloning), with some species being able to double its population in less than a day–making it the fastest growing/reproducing plant. The plant will over-winter, like many fungi do, by sinking to the bottom of the body of water to avoid the frost and maintain vegetative material to reproduce when the temperature rises again. Most other angiosperms will produce many seeds which can tolerate a cool season and germinate with favorable conditions. But as Wolffia spp. mainly reproduces asexually, it utilizes similar over-wintering processes to fungi to maintain material to grow its population in the spring once again.
Wolffia spp. is edible, and can be found in markets in South-east Asia. Not only is Wolffia spp. high in many important vitamins and iron, but it has a comparable protein content (B-12) to meat.
–Content and photos by Horticulture and Design Intern, Kate Kalcic
