Columbia Water-Meal vs Dotted Watermeal

Wolffia columbiana compared with Wolffia borealis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Columbia Water-Meal	Dotted Watermeal
Kingdom same	Plantae (نباتات)	Plantae (نباتات)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (كاسيات البذور)	Magnoliophyta (كاسيات البذور)
Class same	Liliopsida (زنبقانية)	Liliopsida (زنبقانية)
Order same	Alismatales (مزماريات)	Alismatales (مزماريات)
Family same	Araceae	Araceae
Genus same	Wolffia	Wolffia
Species	Wolffia columbiana	Wolffia borealis

Evolutionary Relationship

Columbia Water-Meal and Dotted Watermeal share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Wolffia.

استعراض Genus: Wolffia

Conservation Status

Columbia Water-Meal

LC — Least Concern

Dotted Watermeal

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Columbia Water-Meal	Dotted Watermeal
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Columbia Water-Meal

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (India), Europe (4 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

Dotted Watermeal

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Found in United States.

Columbia Water-Meal

<em>Wolffia columbiana</em> is a diminutive aquatic flowering plant belonging to the family Araceae, widely recognized as one of the smallest known vascular plants on Earth. It inhabits still or slow-moving freshwater environments, including ponds, lakes, ditches, and quiet backwaters, where it floats freely at or just below the water surface. The species occurs across a broad geographic range spanning the Americas. As a rootless, leafless organism, <em>W. columbiana</em> consists of a tiny oval thallus, measuring only a fraction of a millimeter in diameter, which carries out photosynthesis directly through its green surface tissue. Reproduction is primarily vegetative, with daughter plants budding from a specialized pouch on the parent thallus, enabling rapid population expansion under favorable conditions. The species is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, reflecting its wide distribution and tolerance of varied freshwater conditions.