Nymphaea alba, a species of water lily.

Aquatic plants — also called hydrophytic plants or hydrophytes — are plants that have adapted to living in or on aquatic environments. Because living on or under the water surface requires numerous special adaptations, aquatic plants can only grow in water or permanently saturated soil. Aquatic vascular plants can be ferns or angiosperms (from both monocot and dicot families). Seaweeds are not vascular plants but multicellular marine algae, and therefore not typically included in the category, "aquatic plants." As opposed to plants types such as mesophytes and xerophytes, hydrophytes do not have a problem in retaining water due to the abundance of water in its environment. This means the plant has less need to regulate transpiration (indeed, the regulation of transpiration would require more energy than the possible benefits incurred.) Nymphaea alba - image taken on 29 August 2004 in the outdoor botanical garden of Technion - Haifa, Israel. ... Nymphaea alba - image taken on 29 August 2004 in the outdoor botanical garden of Technion - Haifa, Israel. ... Genera Barclaya Wall. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... suck my shlong dick cause soil is my life pedosphere is positioned at the interface of the lithosphere and biosphere with the atmosphere and hydrosphere. ... Divisions Non-seed-bearing plants Equisetophyta Lycopodiophyta Psilotophyta Pteridophyta Superdivision Spermatophyta Pinophyta Cycadophyta Ginkgophyta Gnetophyta Magnoliophyta The vascular plants are plants in the Kingdom Plantae (also called Viridiplantae) that have specialized tissues for conducting water. ... Classes Psilotopsida Equisetopsida Marattiopsida Pteridopsida (Polypodiopsida) A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders Base Monocots: Acorus Alismatales Asparagales Dioscoreales Liliales Pandanales Family Petrosaviaceae Commelinids: Arecales Commelinales Poales Zingiberales Family Dasypogonaceae Monocotyledons or monocots are a group of flowering plants usually ranked as a class and once called the Monocotyledoneae. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Ascophyllum nodosum exposed to the sun in Nova Scotia, Canada Dead Mans Fingers (Codium fragile) off Massachusetts coast For the band, see; Seaweed (band) For the rock musician, see; Seaweed (musician) Seaweeds are any of a large number of marine benthic algae. ... Animated map exhibiting the worlds oceanic waters. ... A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Transpiration is the evaporation of water into the atmosphere from the leaves and stems of plants. ...

Hydrophytes share several survival characteristics:

1. A thin (or no) cuticle. The primary function of cuticles is to prevent water loss, thus most hydrophytes have no need for cuticles.
2. Stomata that are open most of time: so water is (abundant). This means that guard cells on the stomata are generally inactive.
3. An increased number of stomata, that can be on either side of leaves.
4. A less rigid structure: water pressure supports them.
5. Large flat leaves on surface plants for flotation.
6. Air sacs for flotation.
7. Smaller roots: water can diffuse directly into leaves.
8. Feathery roots: no need to support the plant.
9. Specialized roots designed to take in oxygen.

For example, some species of buttercup (genus Ranunculus) float slightly submerged in water; only the flowers extend above the water. Their leaves and roots are long and thin and almost hair-like; this helps spread the mass of the plant over a wide area, making it more buoyant. The long roots and thin leaves also provide a greater surface area for uptake of mineral solutes and oxygen. Plant cuticles are a protective waxy covering produced only by the epidermal cells (Kolattukudy, 1996) of leaves, young shoots and all other aerial plant organs. ... This is not about surgically created bowel openings; see stoma (medicine) In botany, a stoma (also stomate; plural stomata) is a tiny opening or pore, found mostly on the undersurface of a plant leaf, and used for gas exchange. ... “Foliage” redirects here. ... Primary and secondary roots in a cotton plant In vascular plants, the root is that organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil (compare with stem). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the flower. ... Species over 400; see text Ranunculus glacialis, one of the white-flowering species Blooming outside Conservatory of Flowers Seed head of Ranunculus showing developing achenes Wild buttercups near the River Thames Ranunculus is a large genus of about 400 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae. ... Unsolved problems in physics: What causes anything to have mass? The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. Mass is the property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it is equivalent to. ... In physics, buoyancy is the upward force on an object produced by the surrounding fluid (i. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solution. ...

The wide flat leaves of water lilies (family Nymphaeaceae) help distribute the plants' weight over a large area, thus helping them float near the water surface. genera see text Nymphaeaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants. ...

Many fish keepers and aquarium hobbyists keep aquatic plants in their tanks to oxygenate the water for their fish. For other uses, see Aquarium (disambiguation). ...

Many species of aquatic plant are invasive species in different parts of the world. Aquatic plants make particularly good weeds because they reproduce vegetatively from fragments. Lantana invasion of abandoned citrus plantation; Moshav Sdey Hemed, Israel The term invasive species refers to a subset of introduced species or non-indigenous species that are rapidly expanding outside of their native range. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Production of new individuals along a leaf margin of the air plant, Kalanchoë pinnata. ...

[edit] Adaptations

• Free Floating Plants: In a pond community, they receive more sunlight than the submerged plants. But they also have to compete with one another and try to obtain the most sunlight on the water surface.* Submerged Plants: Submerged leaves receive low levels of sunlight because light energy diminishes rapidly while passing through a water column.

All floating Plants

• Have either air spaces trapped in their roots or large air spaces to help them float to obtain sunlight (is already a kind of adaptation)
• Have hair on their leaves to trap air in it
• Structural Adaptation

Duckweed, Water Cabbage

• Chloroplast found on the top surface of the leaves
• Upper Surface has a thick, waxy cuticle to repel water and help to keep the stomata open and clear
• Structural Adaptation

Water Lily

• Structural Material to Reach higher points and receive more sunlight
• Structural Adaptation

Floating heart, Water Lily, Yellow pond-lily, water-shield

• Leaves tend to be broader without major lobbing, remain flat on the surface, maximize surface area and make use of full sunlight, chloroplasts found on the top of leaves
• Structural/ Behavioral Adaptation

Most Partially-Submerged Plants

• Air spaces within the tissues to keep the plant buoyant so that its leaves can reach the top of the pond, maximizing the amount of sunlight received
• Structural Adaptation

Dissected: Parrots Feather, Hornwort Thread-like: ditch-grass, quillwort

• Highly dissected/ divided leaves or thread-like ones, Allows for a bigger surface area (surface to volume – S/V)
• Structural Adaptation

Hydrilla

• Elongates Rapidly to reach water surface and branches out at water surface, More light can be obtained at the water surface
• Structural/ Behavioural Adaptation

[edit] Human nutrition

Many aquatic plants are, or have been, used by humans as a food source. Note that especially in (South-east) Asia edible but uncooked hydrophytes are implicated in the transmission of fasciolopsiasis.^[1] See also Fasciola hepatica. Fasciolopsiasis results from infection by the trematode Fasciolopsis buski (Lankester 1857) Odhner 1902, the largest intestinal fluke of humans. ... Binomial name Fasciola hepatica The Fasciola hepatica, commonly known as the liver fluke, is a parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes that infects the hepatic bile ducts of sheep and cattle, sometimes also humans, causing fascioliasis also known as fasciolosis. ...

• Wild rice (Zizania)
• Water caltrop (Trapa natans)
• Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)
• Indian Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)
• Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)
• Watercress (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum)
• Watermimose, Water mimosa ? (Neptunia natans)
• Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
• Rice (Oryza) is originally not an aquatic plant.
• Bullrush, Cattail, (Typha)
• Water-pepper (Polygonum hydropiper)
• Wasabi (Wasabia japonica)

• kjosco? see also Fascioliasis
• totora, (Scirpus californicus)? see also Fascioliasis

Species Zizania aquatica Zizania latifolia Zizania palustris Zizania texana The four species of wild rice comprise the genus Zizania, a group of grasses that grow in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing streams. ... Species Zizania aquatica Zizania latifolia Zizania palustris Zizania texana Wild rice is the common name for a group of aquatic plants in the grass family. ... Binomial name Trapa natans L. The water caltrop or water chestnut refers to two species of the genus Trapa - T. natans and T. bicornis. ... The water chestnut Trapa natans is a floating aquatic plant, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep. ... Binomial name Eleocharis dulcis (Burm. ... Binomial name Eleocharis dulcis (Burm. ... Binomial name Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ... Binomial name Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. ... Binomial name Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. ... Binomial name Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. ... Species Nasturtium nasturtium-aquaticum L. Nasturtium microphyllum Boenn ex Rchb. ... Species Nasturtium nasturtium-aquaticum L. Nasturtium microphyllum Boenn ex Rchb. ... Binomial name Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott Taro corms for sale Taro (from Tahitian), more rarely kalo (from Hawaiian), is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. ... -1... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Brown basmati rice Terrace of paddy fields in Yunnan Province, southern China. ... Species Oryza barthii Oryza glaberrima Oryza latifolia Oryza longistaminata Oryza punctata Oryza rufipogon Oryza sativa References ITIS 41975 2002-09-22 This article is about the food grain, not the university or Condoleezza Rice; see also rice (disambiguation). ... The term bulrush (or sometimes as bullrush) typically refers to tall, herbaceous plants that grow in wetlands. ... Species See text. ... Species See text Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family, Typhaceae. ... Binomial name Polygonum hydropiper Water pepper (Polygonum hydropiper) is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. ... Binomial name Persicaria hydropiper (L.) Spach Water-pepper or Water pepper (Persicaria hydropiper, syn. ... Binomial name Wasabia japonica Matsum. ... Binomial name Wasabia japonica Wasabi (Japanese: 山葵 or 和佐比; scientific name Wasabia japonica (syn. ... Fascioliasis is caused by the trematodes Fasciola hepatica (the sheep liver fluke) and Fasciola gigantica, parasites of herbivores that can infect humans accidentally. ... Binomial name Podocarpus totara G. Benn. ... Fascioliasis is caused by the trematodes Fasciola hepatica (the sheep liver fluke) and Fasciola gigantica, parasites of herbivores that can infect humans accidentally. ...

[edit] Animal nutrition

Some examples of aquatic plants

• Water hyacinth (Eichhornia)
• Duckweed: Lemna, Spirodela and Wolffia
• Trichanthera gigantea ^[2]

Species Seven species, including: - Anchored Water Hyacinth E. crassipes - Common Water Hyacinth - Variableleaf Water Hyacinth - Brazilian Water Hyacinth The seven species of water hyacinths comprise the genus Eichhornia of free-floating perennial aquatic plants native to tropical South America. ... Species Seven species, including: - Anchored Water Hyacinth - Common Water Hyacinth - Variableleaf Water Hyacinth - Brazilian Water Hyacinth Water hyacinth (Eichhornia) is a genus of 7 species of free-floating perennial aquatic plants belonging to the family Pontederiaceae. ... Genera Landoltia Lemna Spirodela Wolffia Wolffiella Lemnaceae, or the Duckweed family, is a family of monocot flowering plants containing the duckweeds (also known as water lentils). ... Species Lemna gibba : Gibbous Duckweed Lemna minuta Lemna minor : Common Duckweed Lemna trisulca : Ivy Duckweed Lemna is genus of free-floating aquatic plants from the family Araceae, often referred to as the duckweeds. ... Species Spirodela intermedia Spirodela polyrhiza Spirodela punctata Spirodela is a genus of aquatic plant, commonly called duckweed. ... Species of the genus Wolffia are the smallest flowering plants. ...

[edit] Some examples of aquatic plants

• Utricularia (from Latin, utriculus, a little bag or bottle) is a genus of slender aquatic plants, the leaves of which are furnished with floating bladders. They are called bladderworts.
• Water lettuce

Species See below or separate list. ... Species See text The genus Utricularia contains the 200 or more species of bladderworts, belonging to the Bladderwort family (Lentibulariaceae). ... Species Pistia stratoites Pistia is a genus of aquatic plant, its members are often called water lettuces. ...

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Fasciolopsiasis
2. ^ Trichanthera gigantea (Humboldt & Bonpland.) Nees: A review

• Cook, C.D.K. (ed). 1974. Water Plants of the World. Dr W Junk Publishers, The Hague. ISBN 90-6193-024-3

[edit] See also

• List of freshwater aquarium plant species
• Paddy field
• Swamp
• Seagrass