Aquatic Plants
Aquatic plants are all plants that grow (whether fully submerged or not) in water. This of course includes all plants that grow in salt (sea) water. Half a century ago, the choice in this was still very limited and wild forms still prevailed in the supply (apart from water lilies, which were cultivated much earlier; think of Monet’s paintings). This has rapidly changed. Freshwater plants are divided into two major groups: aquatic plants and marsh or riparian plants. Marsh or riparian plants are plants that grow only with their lower shoots (mainly roots) in water or sopping wet soil.
Aquatic plants are divided into:
- Submerged aquatic plants (including many oxygen plants) that grow submerged and live in the water floating or rooting in the soil;
- Floating-leaf plants (such as water lilies) with leaves floating on the surface of the water. Some have differently shaped underwater leaves. They root in the bottom of often somewhat deeper water;
- Floating plants (think duckweed) that also float on the water surface, but usually have no bottom roots.
