Nutritional Freshwater Life
72
Lemna minor (Linnaeus)
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Common name: Common duckweed,
lesser duckweed.
Distribution: Subcosmopolitan distribution, native, throughout most of Africa,
Asia, Europe, and North America.
Habitat: Freshwater ponds and slowmoving streams.
Description: It is a floating plant, with
one, two, or three leaves, each with a
single root hanging in the water; as
more leaves grow, the plants divide
and become separate individuals. The
root is 1–2 cm long. The leaves are oval,
1–8 mm long and 0.6–5 mm broad, light
green, with three (rarely five) veins,
and small air spaces to assist flotation.
It propagates mainly by division, and
flowers are rarely produced; when produced, they are about 1 mm diameter,
with a cup-shaped membranous scale.
The leaves of this species are edible.
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition (% DM)
Protein
Ash
Fiber
17.86
1.61
11.82
Minerals (% or mg/100 g DM)
Ca
(%)
P
(%)
K
(%)
Na
(%)
Mg
(%)
Fe
(mg)
Mn
(mg)
Mo
(mg)
2.58 0.17 1.20 0.755 0.457 248 103 13.2
Source: Data from Linn et al. (1975).