Wolffia, the smallest angiosperm

[Rudi Schmid]

The smallest angiosperms occur in the monocotyledons, in Lemnaceae (duckweed
family), with Wolffia being the smallest. The most minute is the southeast
Asian W. angusta, which is 0.6x0.33mm (Mabberley 1997, The plant-book, 2nd
ed.). In California species of Lemnaceae are 0.4-10mm for the 4 genera and
16 species: Lemna (7 species), Spirodela (2), Wolffia (5), Wolffiella (2)
(The Jepson manual, 1993). Mabberley (1997) includes Pseudowolfia and
Wolffiopsis in Wollfia.

Rudolf ("Rudi") Schmid, Department of Integrative Biology,
   University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA
   OR (for Taxon): 16 Edwin Dr., Kensington, CA 94707-1022
email: schmid at socrates.berkeley.edu
phone: (510) 525-0439 (message OK); fax (510) 643-6264
WWW site for International Association for Plant Taxonomy
   (IAPT) and Taxon: www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt