Common Duckweed

Lemna minor

native · Hill Country

Common Duckweed is a wildflower native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 0.5 ft tall and 3 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and high water. Blooms green in summer. Good for birds.

Wet ground only. A wetland plant: it needs standing water or saturated soil — a pond edge, creek bank or rain garden, not a dry upland bed.

Will it grow in your yard?

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The facts

5 sources

Type: Wildflower
Sun: Full sun to part shade (5–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water: High
Height: 0.5 ft
Spread: 3 ft
Bloom: Summer · green
Foliage: Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil: Recorded on moist, poor drainage
Wildlife: Supports birds

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandSouthern Post Oak SavannaLimestone Cut Plain

49 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.