Wolffia columbiana

Columbia water meal

Family: Araceae · Type: perennial · Native

Columbia water meal is a California native perennial found in the Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, southern California, and San Joaquin Valley in freshwater habitats at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from summer to fall, this tiny aquatic plant produces inconspicuous green flowers. Growing as an extremely minute floating plant just 0.8 to 1.3 millimeters long, it appears as a transparent green spherical body that hovers above the water surface. Its upper surface is mostly convex with a flat center, featuring between 1 to 10 distinctive stomates. This diminutive aquatic plant is so small it resembles a microscopic green dot drifting on the water's surface.

Habitat: Freshwater

Bloom period: Summer-fall

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: SnJV, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO, SCo

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