Wolffia plant has this honor to bear the world’s smallest
flower. This plant is easily available and found in many parts of the world. It
has about 10 to 15 different species. This plant has aquatic habit and mostly found
floating on the water. The flowers are solo colored. They are so small that
their bouquet will be best fitted on a pinhead. This plant lacks root system.
The flower color varies from yellow to light green. Their rate of reproduction of
this flower is too fast. It can produce number of plants in few hours.
They are
so small that it is very difficult to see a single flower.
Wolffia flower as food:
Many scientific studies have been done on this flower. It was
discovered that it contain high quantity of protein. It contain about 30- 50
percent of protein of its total volume. It has potential to be a part of human
diet. This plant is not under endangered species. It is found all over the
world, just being ignored because of its smaller size.
Shape and size of wolffia:
This plant lacks roots and leaves. Some botanist refers it as
thallus plant. The shape of each plant is like a small green football, which
has an even or rounded top. Shape of the wolffia mostly depends on the species.
They can be reproduced by budding method and during the hot summers, they
exactly cover the whole water surface just like a mass of small
substances.
Microscopic study show that on average a single wolffia plant
is about 0.5 to 0.6 mm long and the width is almost 0.3 to 0.7 mm of an inch.
Its weight is about 135 micrograms. The diameter of a wolffia plant is about one
mm. in order to value their tiny size, wolffia plants are generally compare to
the vibrant candy sprinkles that are used for decorating cookies.
However, their small size does not have ability to attract
the people. Nevertheless, this flower has great potency to be a part of diet
and medicine. The high rate of production and easily available features of this
plant attracts the botanists. The above information will help the readers to
develop interest to know more about the flower world.
