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Lemna aequinoctialis; photograph (c) Steve Fitzgerald, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Steve Fitzgerald, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-07-18

Lemna aequinoctialis Welw.

Lesser duckweed; Duckweed; Minute duckweed

Araceae · Egypt, Cape Verde +166

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Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) Patrick Jackson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) Patrick Jackson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) Shelomi Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) Steve Fitzgerald, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY) 62 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.2°C
Record low 3.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,344mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Lemna aequinoctialis, the lesser duckweed, is a tiny, floating aquatic plant in the aroid family, found in quiet, still waters of the Southern U.S., as well as Mexico and some Caribbean Islands. Additionally, it can be found from the state of Virginia south through Florida, north to Nebraska and even into southern Wisconsin. It is also widespread in the American Southwest (and most of Mexico, including desert), from Texas to the coast of California, preferring lagoons and still ponds, which it accesses via seasonal flooding and occasional precipitation. Fronds are generally triple-nerved, green, and measure up-to 6 mm long. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lemna aequinoctialis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (963 mm of 1,316 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.5 °C against a yearly mean of 22.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

1,316 mm in the median year at the habitat, 963 mm of it May to October. Wettest months (2 at 187 mm), driest months (2 at 43 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 642 mm to 3,007 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,344 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,316 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.2 °C, the absolute minimum 3.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -2.6 °C to 23.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.8 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +60 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Lemna aequinoctialis through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 12.3 °C; 1,316 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 22–38RH 58–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 454 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C21 / 5–3022 / 7–3124 / 12–3327 / 18–3428 / 21–3429 / 24–3230 / 26–3330 / 26–3328 / 24–3126 / 19–3024 / 13–3022 / 8–30
Night °C12 / -3–2313 / -1–2415 / 3–2418 / 8–2521 / 13–2523 / 16–2523 / 17–2623 / 17–2622 / 15–2520 / 10–2417 / 5–2414 / 0–23
Rain mm43 / 9–15652 / 8–15974 / 5–18085 / 10–202123 / 21–305187 / 59–391182 / 65–371184 / 59–398187 / 63–392100 / 35–27356 / 12–19143 / 5–166
DLI23 / 15–3427 / 20–3933 / 26–4536 / 30–4837 / 30–4737 / 29–4338 / 30–4436 / 30–4231 / 26–3829 / 22–3624 / 16–3422 / 14–32
RH %59 / 49–6559 / 47–6558 / 44–6559 / 44–6661 / 48–6763 / 55–6864 / 55–6864 / 56–6864 / 56–6861 / 55–6759 / 51–6659 / 49–65

Records on both sides of the equator: the 105 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 454 cells that remain: the 404 at least 10° north and the 50 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 454 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (560 records in those cells; 4 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1425:1624 (18.725, -98.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 454 distinct grid cells holding 560 of the 690 in-range records (4 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the northern side of the equator (404 cells poleward of 10° north, 105 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1425:1624 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-98.750, lapse-corrected +60 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1457 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEgypt, Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Cabinda, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Lesotho, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Mozambique Channel Is., Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Afghanistan, Palestine, China South-Central, Manchuria, China North-Central, Qinghai, China Southeast, Japan, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Caroline Is., Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay · introduced: Great Britain, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Ukraine, Khabarovsk, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker18.738, -99.274 · in the densest population, 194 records (14% of those in range)
Kew's description“hydroperennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1384 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 560 of them in the land cells it reads, of 690 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1051 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7 km away. 231 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 694 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1384 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Lemna aequinoctialis, photograph 1did not loadLemna aequinoctialis, photograph 2did not loadLemna aequinoctialis, photograph 3did not loadLemna aequinoctialis, photograph 4did not loadLemna aequinoctialis, photograph 5did not loadLemna aequinoctialis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Patrick Jackson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Shelomi Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Steve Fitzgerald, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Bacopa monnieri Bacopa monnieri Coastal water-hyssop Photo: CC BY-SA, Douglas GoldmanMikania cordifolia Mikania cordifolia Florida Keys hempvine Photo: CC BY, Andrea GantzerRichardia scabra Richardia scabra Rough Mexican clover Photo: CC0, author not statedEuphorbia ophthalmica Euphorbia ophthalmica Florida hammock sandmat Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciLudwigia octovalvis Ludwigia octovalvis Mexican primrose-willow Photo: CC BY, 祐Juncus megacephalus Juncus megacephalus Bighead rush Photo: CC BY, Josiah Londerée

Other Lemna 7 in the reference

Lemna disperma Lemna disperma Araceae Photo: CC BY, Arnim LittekLemna gibba Lemna gibba Fat duckweed Photo: CC BY, Angelika BaumannLemna × japonica Lemna × japonica Araceae Photo: CC BY, Анна МитрошенковаLemna minor Lemna minor Common duckweed Photo: CC BY, Полина ПолежанкинаLemna minuta Lemna minuta Least duckweed Photo: CC BY, Jose CastroLemna trisulca Lemna trisulca Ivy-leaved duckweed Photo: CC BY, Nicola CrockfordLemna turionifera Lemna turionifera Turion duckweed Photo: CC BY, Oleg Kosterin

Names & registers

Also known as Lemna aequinoctiales; Lemna angolensis; Lemna angolesis; Lemna aoukikusa; Lemna aoukikusa subsp. hokurikuensis and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Araceae
Described by
Welw.
Native to
Egypt, Cape Verde, Benin +165
Wild records
1384 in range · 1051 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 42 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (26 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 at a herbarium, 11 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.50_-98.750, lapse-corrected +60 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 206 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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