Note: The information presented in this web page is
supplementary to any of the good text books available to you in
the Library or to your currently prescribed Botany text book.
The information is intended primarily to be a study aid, NOT to
enable you to do away with reading text books. Life in water
requires that the plant is either submerged, and free-floating,
anchored to the substrate, anchored to the substrate, or with
the upper leaf surfaces exposed to the air. Hydrophytes range in
size from the very small Wolffia which is the smallest flowering
plant, with leaves only 1mm wide, to the Royal Water Lilly
Victoria regina which has leaves 1 to 2 meters in diameter! In
each case, modifications are required to enable the day to day
life of the plant (and particularly, its physiological
processes) to occur at somewhere near optimum for that species.
For example, nutrient supply for floating hydrophytes, such as
Eichhornia present few problems, as the plants, being natural
drifters, will find nutrients wherev