Lemna valdiviana

Valdivia duckweed

Family: Araceae · Type: perennial · Native

Valdivia duckweed is a native aquatic perennial found in coastal and mountain regions including the North Coast, Sierra Nevada, central western California, southern California, and Peninsular Ranges in freshwater habitats at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from spring to fall, this tiny plant produces uniformly transparent green fronds that typically grow in clusters of 4 to 8 individuals. Growing as a thin, elliptic to narrowly oblong aquatic plant just 2 to 4 millimeters long, it attaches to water surfaces with distinctive asymmetric base and symmetric tip. Its delicate fronds feature a vein extending up to three-quarters of the distance from root attachment to plant tip, with smooth surfaces and visible air spaces between cells. The plant's seeds are characterized by cross-lined textures between surface ribs.

Habitat: Freshwater

Bloom period: Spring-fall

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR, SN, CW, SCo, SnBr, PR

California counties: Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, Los Angeles, Kern, Ventura, San Bernardino, Tulare, Sonoma, Humboldt, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sierra, Lake, Contra Costa, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Lassen, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Modoc, Fresno, El Dorado

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.