Aquatic plants, also called hydrophytic plants or hydrophytes, are plants that have adapted to living in or on aquatic environments. Because living on or under water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam surface requires numerous special adaptations, aquatic plants can only grow in water or permanently saturated soil Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. Aquatic vascular plants Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the ferns, clubmosses, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms. Scientific names for the group include Tracheophyta and Tracheobionta, but neither name is very widely used.[ can be ferns A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns do not have either seeds or flowers (they reproduce via spores) or angiosperms The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Together with gymnosperms, they are the only extant groups of seed-producing plants, but they can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies (derived characteristics). These characteristics include flowers, (from a variety of families, including among the monocots Monocotyledons, also known as monocots, are one of two major groups of flowering plants that are traditionally recognized, the other being dicotyledons, or dicots. Monocot seedlings typically have one cotyledon (seed-leaf), in contrast to the two cotyledons typical of dicots. Monocots have been recognized at various taxonomic ranks, and under and dicots Dicotyledons, also known as dicots, is a name for a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group. Flowering plants that are not dicotyledons are monocotyledons, typically having one embryonic leaf). Seaweeds Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae. Seaweeds can also be classified by use are not vascular plants but multicellular marine An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (~3.61 X 1014 m2) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas algae Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants, and therefore not typically included in the category of aquatic plants Categories: Plants | Aquatic organisms | Flora by region . As opposed to plants types such as mesophytes and xerophytes, hydrophytes do not have a problem in retaining water due to the abundance of water in its environment. This means the plant has less need to regulate transpiration Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation. It is the loss of water vapor from parts of plants , especially in leaves but also in stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings called, collectively, stomata, and in most plants they are more numerous on the undersides of the foliage. The stoma are bordered by guard cells (indeed, the regulation of transpiration would require more energy than the possible benefits incurred).
Characteristics of hydrophytes:
- A thin cuticle Plant cuticles are a protective waxy covering produced only by the epidermal cells of leaves, young shoots and all other aerial plant organs without periderm. The cuticle tends to be thicker on the top of the leaf, but is not always thicker in xerophytic plants living in dry climates than in mesophytic plants from wetter climates, despite a. Cuticles primarily discourage water loss; thus most hydrophytes have no need for cuticles.
- Stomata In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used for gas exchange. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells which are responsible for regulating the size of the opening. The term stoma is also used collectively to refer to an entire stomatal complex, both the pore itself and that are open most of time because water is abundant and therefore there is no need for it to be retained in the plant. This means that guard cells on the stomata are generally inactive.
- An increased number of stomata, that can be on either side of leaves.
- A less rigid structure: water pressure supports them.
- Flat leaves In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. As an evolutionary trait, the flatness of leaves works to expose the chloroplasts to more light and to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide at the expense of water loss. In the Devonian period, when carbon on surface plants for flotation.
- Air sacs for flotation.
- Smaller roots In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating (growing up above the ground or especially above water). Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either (see rhizome). So, it is: water can diffuse Diffusion describes the spread of particles through random motion from regions of higher concentration to regions of lower concentration. The time dependence of the statistical distribution in space is given by the diffusion equation. The concept of diffusion is tied to notion of mass transfer, driven by a concentration gradient, but diffusion can directly into leaves.
- Feathery roots: no need to support the plant.
- Specialized roots able to take in oxygen.
For example, some species of buttercup Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae, which includes the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine (but not the greater celandine of the poppy family Papaveraceae) (genus Ranunculus Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae, which includes the buttercups, spearworts, water crowfoots and the lesser celandine (but not the greater celandine of the poppy family Papaveraceae)) float slightly submerged in water; only the flowers extend above the water. Their leaves and roots are long and thin and almost hair-like; this helps spread the mass In physics, mass commonly refers to any of three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent: Inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass. In everyday usage, mass is often taken to mean weight, but in scientific use, they refer to different properties of the plant over a wide area, making it more buoyant In physics, buoyancy is an upward acting force, caused by fluid pressure, that reduces an object's weight. If the object is either less dense than the liquid or is shaped appropriately (as in a boat), the force can keep the object afloat. This can occur only in a reference frame which either has a gravitational field or is accelerating due to a. Long roots and thin leaves also provide a greater surface area for uptake of mineral A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance that is formed through geological processes and that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not have a specific chemical composition solutes Solubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a liquid solvent to form a homogeneous solution of the solute in the solvent. The solubility of a substance fundamentally depends on the used solvent as well as on temperature and pressure. The extent of the solubility of a substance in a and oxygen.
Wide flat leaves in water lilies (family Nymphaeaceae Nymphaeaceae is a name for a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains 8 genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus Nymphaea contains about 35 species across the) help distribute weight over a large area, thus helping them float near surface.
Many fish keepers keep aquatic plants in their tanks to control phytoplankton Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν , meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. However, when present in high enough and moss Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems. At certain times mosses produce spore capsules which may appear as beak-like by removing metabolites Metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind" - specifically, the study of their small-molecule metabolite profiles. The metabolome represents the collection of all metabolites in a biological cell, tissue, organ or organism, which are the end products of cellular.
Many species of aquatic plant are invasive species "Invasive species", or Invasive Exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions in different parts of the world. Aquatic plants make particularly good weeds A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-made settings such as gardens, lawns or agricultural areas, but also in parks, woods and other natural areas. More specifically, the term is often used to describe native or nonnative plants that grow because they reproduce vegetatively Vegetative reproduction is a type of asexual reproduction for plants, and is also called vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication, or vegetative cloning. It is a process by which new plant "individuals" arise or are obtained without production of seeds or spores. It is both a natural process in many plant species and one used or from fragments.
Contents |
Adaptations
- Floating plants: In a pond community, they receive more sunlight than submerged plants. They also have to compete with one another for sunlight
- Submerged plants: Submerged leaves receive low levels of sunlight because light energy diminishes while passing through a water column.
All floating plants
- Have either air spaces trapped in their roots or large air spaces (aerenchyma Aerenchyma is an air channel in the roots of some plants, which allows exchange of gases between the shoot and the root. The channel of large air-filled cavities provides a low-resistance internal pathway for the exchange of gases such as oxygen and ethylene between the plant above the water and the submerged tissues) to help them float to obtain sunlight
- Have hair on their leaves to trap air
- Structural adaptation
Duckweed Duckweeds, or water lentils, are aquatic plants which float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving fresh water bodies. They arose from within the arum or aroid family, , and therefore, often are classified as the subfamily Lemnoideae within the Araceae. Classifications created prior to the approximate end of the twentieth century, water cabbage
- Chloroplast found on the top surface of the leaves
- Upper Surface has a thick, waxy cuticle to repel water and help to keep the stomata open and clear
- Structural adaptation
- Small and light
- Structural material to reach higher points and receive more sunlight
- Structural adaptation
Floating heart, water lily Nymphaeaceae is a name for a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains 8 genera. There are about 70 species of water lilies around the world. The genus Nymphaea contains about 35 species across the, lotus Nelumbo is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy, water lily-like flowers commonly known as lotus. The generic name is derived from the Sinhalese word Nelum. There are two species in the genus, the better known of which, the Sacred Lotus , is the national flower of Egypt, India and Vietnam, yellow pond lily, water-shield
- Leaves tend to be broader without major lobing, remain flat on water surface, maximize surface area and make use of full sunlight; chloroplasts found on the top of leaves
- Structural/ behavioral adaptation
Most partially-submerged ("emersed"[1]) plants
- Air spaces within the tissues to keep it buoyant so that its leaves can reach the top of the pond, maximizing the amount of sunlight received
- Structural adaptation
Dissected: Parrot's Feather, Hornwort Hornworts are a group of bryophytes, or non-vascular plants, comprising the division Anthocerotophyta. The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. The flattened, green plant body of a hornwort is the gametophyte plant Thread-like: ditch-grass, quillwort
- Highly dissected/ divided leaves or thread-like ones, allows for a bigger surface area (surface to volume ratio – S/V)
- Structural adaptation
- Elongates rapidly to reach water surface and branches out at water surface; more light can be obtained at water surface
- Structural/ behavioral adaptation
- Xylem tubes are absent
Human nutrition
Many aquatic plants are, or have been, used by humans as a food source. Note that especially in (South-east) Asia edible but uncooked hydrophytes are implicated in the transmission of fasciolopsiasis Fasciolopsiasis results from infection by the trematode Fasciolopsis buski Odhner, 1902, the largest intestinal fluke of humans (up to 7.5 cm in length).[2] See also Fasciola hepatica Fasciola hepatica, also known as the common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke, is a parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes that infects liver of various mammals, including humans. The disease caused by the fluke is called fascioliasis . F. hepatica is worldwide distributed and causes great economic losses in sheep and.
- Wild rice (Zizania)
- Water caltrop (Trapa natans)
- Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis The Chinese water chestnut , more often called simply the water chestnut, is a grass-like sedge grown for its edible corms. They grow underwater in mud. It has tube-shaped, leafless green stems that grow to about 1.5 metres. The water caltrop, which is also referred to by the same name, is unrelated and often confused with the water chestnut)
- Indian Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian lotus, sacred lotus, bean of India, or simply lotus, is a plant in the Nelumbonaceae family. Botanically, Nelumbo nucifera may also be referred to by its former names, Nelumbium speciosum (Wild.) or Nymphaea nelumbo. This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its)
- Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica)
- Watercress Watercresses are fast-growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plants native from Europe to central Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings. It is an invasive species in the Great Lakes region where it was first sighted in 1847. These plants are members of the Family Brassicaceae or cabbage family, botanically (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum)
- Watermimose, Water mimosa ? (Neptunia natans)
- Taro Taro is a perennial, tropical plant grown primarily as a root vegetable for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is considered a staple in Oceanic cultures. It is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. It is known by many names, including dasheen in the Caribbean and arrowroot in East Africa (which could (Colocasia esculenta)
- Rice Rice is the seed of the monocot plant Oryza sativa. As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second highest worldwide production, after maize (Oryza Oryza is a genus of seven to twenty species of grasses in the tribe Oryzeae, within the subfamily Bambusoideae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa. They are tall wetland grasses, growing to 1–2 m tall; the genus includes both annual and perennial species) is originally not an aquatic plant.
- Bullrush, Cattail Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush, or reedmace, in American English, (Typha Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats. These plants are known in British English as bulrush, bullrush, or reedmace, in American English)
- Water-pepper (Polygonum hydropiper)
- Wasabi Wasabi is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish, and mustard. Known as "Japanese horseradish", its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that stimulate the nasal (Wasabia japonica)
- kjosco? see also Fascioliasis Fasciolosis also known as Fascioliasis, Fasciolasis, distomatosis and liver rot, is an important helminth disease caused by two trematodes Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. This disease belongs to the plant-borne trematode zoonoses. In Europe, the Americas and Oceania only F. hepatica is a concern, but the distributions of both species
- Totora (Scirpus californicus)?
Animal nutrition
Some examples of aquatic plants
- Water hyacinth The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. The leaves are 10-20 cm across, and float above the water (Eichhornia)
- Duckweed Duckweeds, or water lentils, are aquatic plants which float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving fresh water bodies. They arose from within the arum or aroid family, , and therefore, often are classified as the subfamily Lemnoideae within the Araceae. Classifications created prior to the approximate end of the twentieth century: Lemna, Spirodela and Wolffia
- Trichanthera gigantea [3]
Some examples of aquatic plants
- Utricularia (from Latin, utriculus, a little bag or bottle) is a genus of slender aquatic plants, the leaves of which are furnished with floating bladders. They are called bladderworts.
- Water lettuce
Notes
- ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emersed
- ^ Fasciolopsiasis
- ^ Trichanthera gigantea (Humboldt & Bonpland.) Nees: A review
Source
- Cook, C.D.K. (ed). 1974. Water Plants of the World. Dr W Junk Publishers, The Hague. ISBN 90-6193-024-3
See also
- Aqua Planta
- Aquascaping
- Aquatic animal
- Aquatic Botany
- Bog
- Commercial production of aquatic plants
- Helophyte
- List of freshwater aquarium plant species
- Marsh
- Paddy field
- Salt marsh
- Sea grass
- Swamp
- Xerophyte
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aquatic plants |
- Advice for Planting Aquatic Plants
- 100's of Pictures of Aquatic Plants
- Algae Control Information on controlling algae
- Aquatic Plant Finder
- PlantGeek.net
Categories: Aquatic plants | Garden plants | Plant morphology
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