Coast Myall vs Rootless Duckweed

Acacia binervia compared with Wolffia arrhiza

Key Differences

• Coast Myall is Least Concern while Rootless Duckweed is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coast Myall	Rootless Duckweed
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum same	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Fabales (Legumes & Allies)	Alismatales (Alismatales)
Family	Fabaceae	Araceae
Genus	Acacia	Wolffia
Species	Acacia binervia	Wolffia arrhiza

Evolutionary Relationship

Coast Myall and Rootless Duckweed share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Magnoliophyta. (Flowering Plants)

Conservation Status

Coast Myall

LC — Least Concern

Rootless Duckweed

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coast Myall	Rootless Duckweed
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Coast Myall

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Rootless Duckweed

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and temperate coniferous forests, among 4 distinct biome types spanning the Indomalayan and Oceanian and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Japan), Europe (10 countries), North America (Canada), and South America (Brazil). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Coast Myall

Coast myall (Acacia binervia) is a small to medium tree or tall shrub in the family Fabaceae, native to coastal and near-coastal regions of New South Wales and Queensland in eastern Australia. It grows in coastal heath, dry sclerophyll woodland, and scrubby vegetation on sandy or rocky substrates, often in association with banksias and eucalypts. Like most Australian wattles, coast myall produces phyllodes—flattened leaf-stalks functioning as leaves—rather than true compound leaves in mature plants. The dark green phyllodes are distinctive, with two main veins, giving rise to the species name binervia. Golden-yellow, spherical flower heads are produced in winter to spring, attracting native bees. The genus Acacia sensu lato encompasses hundreds of species across Australia and globally, many of which play important ecological roles in nitrogen cycling through root symbioses. Coast myall is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN. It is sometimes planted in coastal revegetation projects for its tolerance of poor, sandy soils, drought, and salt-laden winds.