Lemna minor Lemnaceae Duckweed
This tiny one is often called the “smallest known flowering plant.” A floating plant that has quarter-inch leaves (actually the body or “thallus”), it has hair-like rootlets and flowers so small one needs a magnifying glass to see them. In the fall the plants sink to the bottom of the pond, to rise again in the spring.
CARE. No attention is needed.
PROPAGATION. None necessary. Increases naturally.
SPECIAL USES. Dish-garden pools, rock-garden pools, fish food.
Lycopodium Lycopodiaceae Club Moss
In prehistoric times this was a towering tree; now it is a moss-like poor relation of the ferns, bearing needle-like leaves and spores instead of flowers.
clavatum—running pine—Slowly but steadily the stems creep over the woodland floor, sending up four-inch stems at lax intervals, each with several spikes packed tightly with needle-like leaves.
complanatum—ground cedar—The stems trail faster and more sturdily, the erect branches dividing and spreading out to a lacy green fan.
lucidulum—shining club moss—Trailing stems turn upright at the tips and are covered completely with glassy, dark-green “needles.”