What are the common aquatic plants? A complete guide to types and introductions
Aquatic plants refer to plants that can grow in water; in a broad sense, they refer to marsh plants, submerged plants or floating plants. Aquatic plants have relatively well-developed root systems, fairly tough stems, well-developed aerenchyma, soft and transparent leaves, and some even form filamentous leaves. Moreover, most aquatic plants are both beautiful and easy to grow, making them very suitable for growing in courtyard water features. So what types of aquatic plants are there? Let's take a look together with the editor of Nongxun.com.
1. Emergent aquatic plants
Emergent aquatic flowers are very common in subtropical regions, such as the lotus, yellow iris, purple loosestrife, sweet flag, cattail, arrowhead, pickerelweed, powdery alligator-flag (water canna) and so on.
Emergent plants is the general term for plants that grow floating on the water surface. Most emergent plants have root systems, while the remaining small portion do not; their roots sway in the water absorbing nutrients. Emergent plants can generally be divided into two categories, namely deep-water aquatic plants and shallow-water aquatic plants, meaning that the roots and rhizomes of the plants grow in the bottom mud of the water while the stems and leaves rise above the water surface; and there are also some species that grow on moist banks.
2. Floating-leaf plants
Floating-leaf aquatic flowers are often widely distributed in North Africa and the tropical regions of Southeast Asia; this type of plant floats on the water surface. The common ones have well-developed rhizomes, large flowers and bright colors; their bodies mostly store a large amount of gas, enabling the leaves or the plant body to float steadily on the water surface, and the stomata are mostly found on the upper surface of the leaves.
Among floating plants, some have plant bodies that float completely on the water surface, such as duckweed, water hyacinth, mosquito fern, and floating fern; some have rhizomes buried in the bottom mud while the leaves float on the water surface, such as water lilies; and some have roots growing in the bottom mud with slender stems that rise out of the water, where the internodes of the stem above the water are shortened, the floating leaves are densely clustered at the top of the stem, and the leaf stalks have air bladders, such as water chestnut and so on. That is, our common water lilies, Victoria water lilies, spatterdock, fox nut, and yellow floating heart, and so on.
3. Free-floating plants
Free-floating aquatic flowers often grow in warm regions and tropical regions; their roots do not grow in mud, and the plants float on the water surface, drifting about with water currents and wind and waves. Common ones include water lettuce, water hyacinth, floating fern, frogbit, and water poppy.
4. Submerged plants
Submerged aquatic flowers often grow in ponds, ditches, small rivers, flowing hot spring water and reservoirs. The rhizomes grow in the mud, the entire plant is submerged in the water body, and the aerenchyma is well developed. Submerged plants are plants whose plant bodies are completely submerged in water; their roots are sometimes not developed or are degenerated, all parts of the plant body can absorb water and nutrients, and the aerenchyma is especially well developed, which is beneficial for gas exchange in water where air is lacking. The leaves of this type of plant are mostly ribbon-shaped or filamentous, such as our common black algae, goldfish algae, water milfoil, tape grass, and curly pondweed, and so on.
The above are the types and introductions of aquatic plants. Aquatic plants are also common in our lives and have roles such as beautifying water bodies and creating water landscape features. What other aquatic plants do you know? Have you seen all the aquatic plants introduced by the editor above?
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