Duckweed is one of the smallest flowering plants in the whole world, and each little plant is only about the size of a pencil eraser! It looks like tiny green circles or ovals floating on top of the water, and when a lot of duckweed grows together, it can cover an entire pond like a bright green carpet. Even though duckweed is super tiny, it can double in number in just two days, which means it grows really, really fast. Duckweed has the tiniest flowers of any plant on Earth; they are so small you would need a magnifying glass to see them!
As you might guess from its name, ducks absolutely love to eat this little plant, and so do fish, turtles, and geese! Each duckweed plant is just a little green body called a “frond” with one or two hair-thin roots that hang down into the water to soak up nutrients. It doesn’t have a real stem or regular leaves like most other plants, which makes it look simple, but it is actually very important. Duckweed helps keep ponds healthy by giving off oxygen and soaking up extra nutrients from the water. Scientists are even studying duckweed to see if it could be used as a healthy food for people someday because it is full of protein!