Giant mutant duckweed?

[jennifer]

I've had duckweed in my Daphnia tub for over a year. When it gets thick, I net out a bunch and throw it away. Recently, I noticed one duckweed plantlet that was much larger than normal. Since then, I have selectively NOT thrown away the larger kind and it's reproducing nicely.

Where did it come from? The only thing I can think of is that it was a mutation, or is some sort of "alternate form" that duckweed is able to morph into.

Anybody else ever seen this?

 

[damon]

That's pretty cool. How big would you say one of those plants are across? 10mm or so?

 

[jennifer]

Each individual leaflet of the normal duckweed is about 3 mm. Each leaflet of the large form is around 10 mm. Thus the whole plant, ear to ear, is almost 20 mm.

 

[ben-lee]

Hi jennifer, thats a lovley plant you have there you should let it grow its not every day one of your duckweeds is over grown!you should start letting it grow and your newts/sals/toads/frogs should love to have a swim with that!

 

[ben-lee]

What he said

 

[william]

day of the trifids?

 

[mark]

would it be possible to seperate the L. Major, and then grow just the larger ones?

 

[jennifer]

Mike, I was thinking maybe it was a different species. Thanks for the Latin names, I'll google them and see what I find. But it's still a mystery where it came from. Nothing new has gone into that daphnia tub for many months, except tank water. Weird.

Mark - I'm sort of doing that. When I throw away excess, I throw mostly the small form so the larger form is gradually taking over. I may try introducing just the larger form to some other tanks.

 

[ben-lee]

You should sell it

 

[jennifer]

Looks like I have accidentally picked up Spirodela polyrrhiza (formerly Lemna major).

 

[ben-lee]

Sounds cool, you should keep it and let it multiply and sell it on here/ebay or ur own online shop....plus eat apples, they good for your teeth

 

[andrew]

I could be Nymphoides pelatatum. Its an invasive plant which is bigger than Lemna minor but just as pretty. Plus it feels like a hard sponge when you crush it. Its got really long roots and can be small in size in an aquarium. It reproduces really fast.

 

[carl]

hi i can get that from a pond near me but i put it in a tank once and it just died

 

[william]

you need lots of light for these to survive, i had some ivy leaved duckweed, not sure of scientific name, it can tolerate lower light levels, mine lasted for a month or so

 

[edward]

I grow duckweed in tanks at work under 4 foot standard T12 florescent lights. It grows best under a single twin bulb fixture as opposed to a double bulb fixture. The lights are about 18" above the tanks.

Ed

 

[william]

no we have the lemna species, and i've always been told that they are low light level plants, so i've never bothered with them.

 

[andrew]

Now im floating heart obsessed! HAha, Has anyone ever tried to keep floating hearts in shallow water as a way to help your small herps to stay above the water? I was thinking of doing this in the summer, I was gonna make a small pond area in my new viv for bumble bee toads. No bigger than a big water dish, though slightly deeper. Maybe.