What does duckweed mean? A detailed explanation of the latest meaning of duckweed

Duckweed is also known as qingping, tianping, shuipingcao, and so on. It is a floating aquatic plant of the genus Lemna in the family Lemnaceae, and the name is also used as a general term for plants in the family Lemnaceae. It is often used as a metaphor for a person's wandering life or frivolous character. The whole plant can be used as feed for livestock and poultry, and the whole plant with roots is used as medicine. It is cold in nature, pungent in taste, and its functions are to induce sweating and promote eruption, clear heat, and promote diuresis. It mainly treats exterior-pathogen fever, measles, edema, and other conditions.

The frond of duckweed is symmetrical, green on the surface, pale yellow or greenish white or often purple on the underside, nearly circular, obovate, or obovate-elliptic, with entire margins, 1.5-5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide, slightly convex above or raised along the midline, with 3 veins, inconspicuous; a single filiform root hangs from the underside, the root is white, 3-4 cm long, the root cap is blunt, and the root sheath is wingless.

On one side of the underside of the duckweed frond there is a pouch, in which a new frond forms and emerges, connected to the parent by a very short slender stalk and then falling off. The female flower has 1 curved ovule; the fruit is wingless, nearly top-shaped; the seed has protruding endosperm and 12-15 longitudinal ribs. It generally does not often flower and reproduces by buds.

Duckweed prefers a warm climate and humid environment, and avoids severe cold. It grows in paddy fields, ponds, or other still-water areas, often mixed with Spirodela polyrhiza, forming floating communities that densely cover the water surface. Because this species reproduces quickly, as Li Shizhen said, “one leaf overnight produces several leaves”, it usually occupies an absolute advantage in the community.

Duckweed is propagated by seeds and by division. For seed propagation, collect mature seeds and sow them immediately; wrap the seeds in yellow mud into small balls, with 2-3 seeds per ball, and throw them into the cultivation water surface. Division propagation is carried out in spring and summer; scoop up some parent plants and scatter them into the cultivation water surface. During cultivation, frequently remove weeds from the water surface, keep the cultivation water still, pay attention to irrigation, and prevent drought.

Duckweed is a good feed for pigs and ducks, and is also bait for grass carp. It contains large amounts of water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin B1, B2, and C. It can be used as medicine and has the effects of inducing sweating, dispelling wind, promoting water movement, clearing heat, and detoxifying. It treats seasonal heat carbuncle, insufficiently expressed rashes, wind-heat painful rash, skin itching, edema, amenorrhea, sores and ringworm, erysipelas, scalds, and other conditions.