Waterflakes, the world’s smallest flowering plant, are native to Mexico | Article by Carlos Galindo

Carlos Galindo Leal*

lPlants are unusual organisms; the vast majority of them capture solar energy and convert it into sugar through the phenomenon photosynthesis.

Currently, more than 400 thousand plant species are registered in the world and beyond. 23 thousand in Mexico. Each of them represents an evolutionary solution to living conditions. We know such giant species as California redwoods or Tule tree or auehuete from Oaxaca. But which are the smallest?

Among flowering plants (angiosperms), i.e. destroying algae, mosses, ferns, etc., the smallest plants in the world are water flakes less than a millimeter in size. These are floating plants of a round or oval shape, lacking roots and a vascular system. It weighs less than two micrograms.

Inside, they are full of chloroplasts – organelles responsible for capturing light and converting it into sugar, and stomata – cells through which gases (oxygen, carbon dioxide) are exchanged. They can reproduce asexually, meaning one branch produces a second daughter branch from a tiny sac. They also reproduce sexually with a delicate flower that develops in a depression on the leaf and has one stamen (male) and pistil (female).

They usually float on the water with their close relatives, the duckweed or chichicas, a small aquatic plant that thickly covers the surface of some wetlands. The Chichikaski is larger in size, like the tip of a pencil (1mm) with a pencil eraser (5mm).

Even though he’s so tiny, They are pure protein! Well, they contain 20 to 30% protein and have been used as food in some parts of the world. And they are considered one of the fastest growing plants. Although they can reach densities of 1 to 2 million individuals per square meter, they are not easy to detect due to their small size.

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Due to their rapid growth, these babies quickly consume the nitrogen and phosphorus contained in the water, so they are used in environmental restoration projects to reduce the levels of these nutrients in the water. polluted waters.

Some botanists place them in their own family, while others group them into the family Piñanona, Lion’s Arm, Anthurium, Moses’ Cradle, a rainforest species well known as ornamental plants.

There are four known species in Mexico, which have been recorded in iNaturalistMX by 25 naturalists in Sinaloa, central Mexico, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan. In Mexico City, they can be found in the wetlands of Xochimilco and Chapultepec.

* Carlos Galindo-Leal

MSc and PhD in Ecology, Professor and Researcher in Conservation Biology (UBC, Stanford University), Conservation Ecologist (Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund), Diploma in Archaeoastronomy (ENAH-UNAM), Biocultural Heritage Seminars, science communicator (CONABIO) and naturalist.

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