The plants that grow in water are called aquatic plants and derive their name from the

word
'aqua' which means water.
Plants that float in water:
Some plants, like water hyacinth, float in water. They have special types of leaves that help them
to stay afloat. They use sunlight and air to make their food.
Plants that grow under water:
Some plants grow under water. These plants take carbon dioxide from the water around them
and give out oxygen. Tape grass, pond weed and hydrilla are such plants. Their leaves have no
pores or stomata and they breathe through their surface. These plants are flexible and can bend
easily with the flow of water.
Plants that are fixed in water:
Some plants like water lily and lotus have their roots fixed in the waterbed. Their stems are
hollow and light so that the flowers and leaves can float on water. They breathe through the pores
or stomata on their broad leaves.
We know that all living things reproduce. Mammals give birth to their own kind. Some animals
lay eggs and the mother animals hatch the eggs till the little ones come out of them. But how do
plants reproduce? And do all plants reproduce in the same manner ? To understand reproduction
in plants, we can divide them into two broad groups flowering plants and non-flowering plants.
Rose, mango, gulmohar, etc., are flowering plants and fern, fungi, moss, etc., are some nonflowering plants. Flowering plants reproduce from seeds. Non-flowering plants reproduce from
spores. Some plants also reproduce from parts of a plant such as the leaf, stem, roots, etc.
Aquatic habitats may be either freshwater like lakes, ponds, rivers, spring or saline (salt water)
like oceans. A wide variety of organisms lives in these habitats. Sudden change in water
temperature is not observed because water absorbs and loses heat gradually. Over 99.9% of the
surface water is available as freshwater for various hum an needs. The aquatic habitat offers a
variety of physicochemical factors. These include penetration of light (transparency), availability
oxygen, resistance to motion (viscosity), pressure fluctuations, nutrients, etc.
To adjust to the prevailing conditions, aquatic organisms have some of these
features.
1. They have special structures like floats, air cavities, air sacs which help them to float in water at
the desired depth.
2. For movement, animals have special appendages, for example, fishes have streamlined body
and fins. Plants do not have these special structures as they are either fixed or drift along with the
water current.

3. Animals develop special coverings like shells, cuticle, waxy coating, scales, etc. which prevent
rotting and decay.
4. Animals have the ability to feed in water.
5. For respiration and exchange of gases animals have developed special structures such as gills
in fishes.
The plants which live in water are known as hydrophytes. Hydrophytes are mainly
of the following types.
1. Free-floating: Some hydrophytes float freely on the water surface. They are not attached to the
bottom soil. Common examples are Eichhornta, Pistia, Lemna, Wolffia
2. Rooted and Free-floating: In some hydrop-hytes like Nelumba, Nymphaea, the roots are fixed
in mud and leaves remain floating due to long petiole.
3. Submerged and Rooted: Some aquatic plants like Hydrila, Vallisneria remain submerged in
water and are rotted in soil. In Vallisneria, the stem is tuberous which bears ribbon-like leaves
while Hydrila has a long stem with small leaves on the nodes.
4. Submerged and Floating Some hydrophytes like Ceratophytllum remain completely
submerged in water and are not rooted in the mud. They have long stems and small pointed
leaves.
5. Emergent and Rooted Some hydrophytes like Ranunculus. Typha grow in shallow water. Their
roots are completely under water fixed in the soil while the stems are partly or completely
exposed to air.
Adaptation in hydrophytes (Aquatic Plants)
The roots in hydrophytes become less significant due to the availability of plenty of water. Either
they have no roots or have poorly developed roots. Root hairs and root caps are absent. Air
cavities (aerenchyma) are found in the roots.
The stem is spongy, long and flexible. It floats horizontally in free-floating forms. The stem of the
water lily or lotus plant (Nelumbo) is a rhizome which contains large boles for air.
Floating leaves are large, flat, circular or oval which float on water. Submerged leaves are thin,
long, liner or ribbon-like. Waxy coating is found on leaves, as in lotus which does not allow it to
shrink or get destroyed. They have long flexible and mucilage-covered petioles. Narrow and long
leaves of Vallisneria provide least resistance to flowing water.
Take a lotus plant. Cut its stalk with the help of a blade. You will see large tunnels and holes. If
you press the stalk, what do you see? Observe and think why these holes are there.

Keep you hand or foot immersed in wager for about half an hour. Your skin will wrinkle. The
water lily plant (or a lotus plant) does not wrinkle while if remains in water throughout its life.
This is because of its waterproof, oily leaf. You may compare this waterproof layer with the scales
of fish.
Adaptation in Hydrocoles (Aquatic Animals)
If you look at the structure of fish, you will find many structural features which reflect their
adaptations to aquatic mode of life.
1. It has a streamlined body and is spindle-shaped. It has laterally compressed head, body and
tail.
2. The entire body is covered with waterproof scales. There is a mucous coating on the scales
which reduces water tension.
3. At the sides and posteriorly there are fins which help in swimming faster. The tail functions
like a rudder and helps in changing direction while swimming.
4. Gills are present on the lateral sides. These are respiratory organs capable of oxygen uptake
from water.
5. Fishes have an air bladder which is a thin-walled, gas-filled sac lying dorsal two the alimentary
canal. It helps in respiration, sound production and stabilizes any fluctuation in pressure.
Other aquatic animals also have some modifications. In frogs and ducks, locomotion is achieved
by webs between gingers. Whales (aquatic mammals) do not have or skin glands like sweat and
oil glands. The body of whale is streamlined in a reverse direction with a short rounded front and
a rapidly tapering posterior part with horizontal fin. Such shape helps them in locomotion in
water. A thick layer of fat called blubber in present underneath their skin which helps in
floatation.

AQUATIC PLANTS
Thousands of plant species live in freshwater habitats around the world: along
edges, on the surface, or at the bottom of shallow lakes and ponds; in temporarily
flooded low areas and meadows; at seeps and springs (cienegas) in hill or montane

regions; in flowing water of streams and rivers; rooted in waterlogged soils; and
along any other natural or human-produced drainage system. "Freshwater
wetlands" occur from below sealevel to some very lofty alpine habitats, where
water may persist throughout the year or where it can be very ephemeral. Normally
we classify a freshwater wetland as a place where at least half of the species found
there are truly aquatic plant species.
Many species of aquatic plants are essentially cosmopolitan, meaning that they are
widely distributed around the world. Some of the widest distributions are
attributable to human activities. Humans have accidentally (sometimes
intentionally) transported seeds, fruits, or vegetative clones from one pond or
watershed to another, but many of the cosmopolitan distributions are attributable
instead to birds, particularly waterfowl, which inadvertently transport the plant
propagules when lodged in their features or trapped in mud on the feet.

Characteristics of a Freshwater Environment

1. Water is plentiful, at least during the growing season.
2. PFD (wavelengths of sunlight used for photosynthesis) is low for submerged
leaves, because light penetration through the water column is very much
reduced. At the water surface there often is unobstructed full sun for a
photosynthetic organ floating, and an emergent canopy may intercept high
PFD.
3. Concentration of carbon dioxide dissolved in water is low (higher in water
strongly acidic or strongly basic than in neutral pH solutions).
4. Oxygen concentration of oxygen in the water and in thick tissues of the
underwater plant is low.
5. Minerals and nutrients are scarce or dilute within the water medium, as
compared with drier soil.
6. Moving water (currents and waves) can be damaging to the organs of the
plant.

Types of Leaves
Many of the designs exhibited by plants living in water were obvious to early
botanists. For example, Agnus Arber published a book in 1920 on aquatic plants,
documenting many of the strategies that we still talk about today.
All accounts discuss three basic types of leaves:

1. submersed leaves, which are very thin and narrow, often highly dissected
and very flexible
2. floating leaves, broader leaves that are firm or leathery but flexible enough
to resist tearing by wave action
3. emersed leaves (aerial leaves), i.e., similar to typical leaves of terrestrial
plants living nearby
Submersed leaves receive low levels of sunlight (PFD) because light energy
diminishes rapidly while passing through a water column. Light penetration is
especially poor in turbid water with dense surface populations of algae. Such
underwater leaves are often so highly dissected that the segments may appear
superficially to be macroscopic green algae (e.g., Chara and Nitella). This is a
strategy to maximize surface-to-volume (S/V), permitting rapid diffusion of carbon
dioxide into the chloroplasts of the cells by having proportionately greater surface
area. Certain aquatic species have very high ratios of surface to volume (S/V) by
having one- or two-cell layer construction. These leaves have a very thin cuticle
(wax), but the wax is porous enough to permit easy diffusion of gases through the
surface. On these leaves, stomates are generally absent, and would be useless for
submerged plants, where water, not air, continually surrounds the photosynthetic
organ. Such leaves have very poor development of xylem tissue (water transport),
appropriate inasmuch as shoots are bathed in water. Intercellular air spaces are not
well developed, thereby enabling this plant to remain submersed by having greater
specific gravity. The highly dissected underwater shoot can be tugged at and pulled
by water currents without damaging the segments (i.e., little mechanical resistance
to current). In swiftly running streams, these shoots and leaves wave and dance
wildly.
Examples of highly dissected submersed leaves
o Parrot's feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) and European milfoil (M.
spicatum)
o pondweed (Potamogeton pectinatus, P. filiformis, P. crispus, P.
foliosus)
o thread-leaved water-nymph (Najas gracillima) and rice-field waternymph (N. graminea)
o hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum, C. submersum)
Examples of slightly wider but very thin submersed leaves
o elodea (Elodea canadensis, E. nuttallii, Egeria densa)

o mare's-tail (Hippuris vulgaris)

Examples of thread-like, undivided leaves:
o horned-pondweed (Zannichellia palustris)
o ditch-grass (Ruppia cirrhosa, R. maritima)
o quillwort (Isoetes spp.)
o Pilularia americana
Floating leaves tend to be much broader, without major lobing, and remain flat on
the water, taking advantage of full sun. Stomates are present for gas exchange,
especially on the upper (adaxial) leaf surface. The upper leaf surface tends to have
a very prominent cuticle, thereby permitting water to roll off, and not interfering
with photosynthesis or promoting growth of epiphytic algae. Epidermis may be
rich in chloroplasts, and a bifacial mesophyll (palisade and spongy layers) is
formed. Floating leaves often have well-developed air chambers (lacunae), which
provide buoyancy, and they may also have hard cells, sclereids, within the
mesophyll that provide some toughness for the leaf and prevent the layers from
becoming collapsed.
Examples:
o water lily (Nymphaea odorata)
o yellow pond-lily (certain species of Nuphar)
o cape-pondweed (Aponogeton distachyon)
o pondweed (e.g., Potamogeton nodosus, P. natans)
o Victorian water lily (Victoria regia, V. cruziana)
o water-shield (Brasenia schreberi)
o floating heart (Nymphoides)
o water-chestnut (Trapa natans
o frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae)
Emersed (aerial) leaves are essentially like typical leaves of herbaceous
angiosperms that inhabit full-sun environments. Such leaves are emergent from the

water and, consequently, have a waxy cuticle on both surfaces. Many are also
amphistomatic (stomates on both surfaces and in nearly equal densities) and have
well-developed leaf mesophyll, to take advantage of the abundant light.
Herbaceous perennial examples:
o cattails (Typha)
o wetland irises (Iris)
o buttercups (e.g., species of Ranunculus and Caltha palustris)
o hundreds of grass species (Poaceae), including the giant
reed, Phragmites australis
o sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, N. lutea, and in some species of
yellow pond-lily (e.g., Nuphar polysepala)
o skunk-cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, as well as aquatic aroids from
the tropics
o arrowleaf (Sagittaria spp.) and water-plantains (Alisma)
o some species of knotweed (Persicaria or Polygonum)
o lizard's tail (Saururus cernuum) and yerba mansa (Anemopsis
californica)
o bur-reed (Sparganium)
o Thalia geniculata (Family Marantaceae) and pickerelweed
(Pontederia cordata, Family Pontederiaceae)
umbellifers, e.g., cutleaf water-parsnip (Berula erecta) and species
of Hydrocotyle

Lifeforms of Aquatic Plants

Among the many species that are required to inhabit fresh water, there are a
number of plant designs or lifeforms:
Plant rooted in the mud or muck
o with emersed leaves (see Types of Leaves)

o with photosynthetic stems and relatively small leaves

species of tule (Scirpus) and other species of sedges
(e.g., Carex, Eleocharis, and Cyperus) with or without
noticeable leaves, e.g., papyrus (Cyperus papyrus, Family
Cyperaceae)
most species of rushes (Juncus, Family Juncaceae)
horsetails (Equisetum, seedless land plants)
o with plant body modified as submersed thallus, which is attached to a
rock substrate (Family Podostemonaceae); species in this family have
photosynthetic roots
o with floating leaves only (see Types of Leaves)
o with submersed leaves only (most examples in Types of Leaves)
Floating plant with no attachment to the mud or bottom and with inflated
portions of leaves or stems or special hairs that enable the plant to remain
floating
Examples:
water-lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) with nonwettable leaves
water-hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) with inflated petioles
duckweeds (Subfamily Lemnoideae of Family
Araceae, Lemna, Spirodela, Wolffia, Wolffiella), among the
tiniest vascular plants
bladderworts (Utricularia) with a modified, submersed stem
system for photosynthesis and catching invertebrate prey and,
sometimes, a rosette of inflated stems floating at the surface of
the water (U. inflata)
featherfoil (Hottonia inflata) with dissected submersed leaves
and at the surface inflated, leafless stems
water soldier (Stratiotes aloides)
Phyllanthus fluvitans

 Salvinia with nonwettable leaves by possessing special hairs

mosquito fern (Azolla filiculoides, A. mexicana)
Free-floating, submersed plant (in most cases, due to fragmentation of
rooted plants)
Plant rooted in the bottom mud and muck but with two distinct types of
leaves, i.e., submersed and emersed leaves or submersed and floating leaves
(amphibious plant)
Examples of amphibious plants with dissected submersed leaves and
unmodified emersed leaves:
Rorippa amphibia
Myriophyllum heterophyllum
Prosperinaca palustris
water-marigold, Megalodonta beckii
Examples of amphibious plants with dissected submersed leaves and
broader floating leaves
Potamogeton natans, P. amphibium, P. vaseyi, P. spirillus
Cabomba caroliniana and water-shield (Brasenia schreberi,
Family Cabombaceae)
Plants rooted in soil or mud (also sand) along edge or bank of freshwater.
This is essentially terrestrial (e.g., along a stream bank or lake shore, in
freshwater marsh or a very wet mountain meadow) or with stiff shoots that
arise from the water, i.e., where a plant shoot does not require support by the
water. A number of shoreline herbs have a land form and water form,
where the individuals formed in standing water have more highly dissected
leaves than the land form (e.g., Marsilea and Ranunculus sceleratus, R.
aquatilis).
An aquatic plant may experience abundant soil moisture during the entire growing
season, but water levels drop during the dry season or summer months, when these
types of plants commonly experience severe water stress and dormancy if water
recedes or soil around the root system becomes very dry.

One or a few species of emergent aquatic plants can dominate the freshwater
community. Most of these grow aggressively via rhizomes or stolons, crowding out
other species. Rhizomes permit these plants to endure periods of environmental
stress, and the rhizome (or corm) is the overwintering bud of plants growing in
cold climates.
A number of floating aquatic species are excellent organisms in which to study
logarithmic population growth. Under full sun and nonlimiting nutrients, a single
individual can be introduced into a pond and multiply rapidly via vegetative
means. For example, duckweeds (Subfamily Lemnoideae of Family Araceae) clone
by forming plantlets on the mother plant, doubling in surface coverage
approximately every two days. Water-lettuce, Pistia stratiotes, forms new plants
around the mother plant via underwater stolons. Water-hyacinth, Eichhornia
crassipes, and floating fern species of Salvinia and Azolla also show explosive
population growth. In the tropics and heated quiet waters of ponds and lakes, such
species can completely cover the water surface within several months, and for that
reason are considered pernicious aquatic weeds, which are removed at great
expense and trouble because they clog channels and choke out other forms of life
in the body of water.
Plants that normally are submersed typically form their flowers raised above the
water surface. This is true, e.g., of Myriophyllum, Elodea, Hippuris,
and Utricularia. There are some bizarre plants that have underwater pollination
mechanisms, most notably Vallisneria.
An important adaptation for many freshwater aquatic plants is the formation
of aerenchyma, which is parenchyma tissue having large intercellular air spaces.
Aerenchyma functions both to store oxygen and to transport that gas to living
tissues. This gas collection is important in leaves for buoyancy. In addition, the
system of lacunae is a diffusion pathway for oxygen; the oxygen is, of course,
made in the chloroplasts during the light reaction of photosynthesis. Oxygen, when
released via photosynthesis, diffuses preferentially into the lacunae, because it
cannot diffuse as rapidly into water and comes out of solution in the intercellular
air spaces, where oxygen concentration of trapped air there may be one-third or
greater. Here it can be used in constructive ways by aquatic plants. A leaf midvein,
petiole, or stem develops an internal pressure, which enables oxygen to be
transported via bulk flow in a lacunar network to rhizomes and roots located in the
anaerobic mud and muck, permitting these organs to grow more rapidly. Gases can
also move in bulk to young tissues, where the pressurized air helps expansion of
developing lacunae near the growing tip. The cut end of an aquatic plant will give
out bubbles (underwater, of course) from lacunar gas under pressure.
Woody species that also may line palustrine and riverine habitats generally do not
show the same adaptations of leaves found in the herbaceous species that actually
live in the water. The most interesting case of convergence is the willow-type leaf.

Willow, Salix (Family Salicaceae), has relatively long lanceolate to narrowly ovate
leaves with tapered tips, and the branches tend to be very flexible, so that in
running water the leaves can be dragged through the water with relatively little
resistance and no tearing. Many totally unrelated woody shoreline plants from
around the world have evolved this type of leaf, e.g., in seep-willow (Baccharis
salicifolia) and arrow weed (Pluchea sericea, both Family Asteraceae) of
California and Australian willow (Geijera parviflora, Family Rutaceae) and
Australian willow myrtle (Agonis flexuosa, Family Myrtaceae) of Australia.
[Return to Lifeforms Main Page]
[Read about Freshwater Aquatic Communities]

WIKIPEDIA

Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments
(saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes ormacrophytes. These plants
require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. The most common
adaptation isaerenchyma, but floating leaves and finely dissected leaves are also common. [1][2]
[3]
Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is permanently saturated with water. They are
therefore a common component of wetlands.[4]
The principal factor controlling the distribution of aquatic plants is the depth and duration of flooding.
However, other factors may also control their distribution, abundance, and growth form, including
nutrients, disturbance from waves, grazing, and salinity.[5]
Aquatic vascular plants have originated on multiple occasions in different plant families; [6][7] they can
be ferns or angiosperms (including both monocotsand dicots). Seaweeds are not vascular plants;
rather they are multicellular marine algae, and therefore are not typically included among aquatic
plants. A few aquatic plants are able to survive in brackish, saline, and salt water.[8] Examples are
found in genera such as Thalassia and Zostera. Although most aquatic plants can reproduce by
flowering and setting seed, many also have extensive asexual reproduction by means of rhizomes,
turions, and fragments in general.[9]
One of the largest aquatic plants in the world is the Amazon water lily; one of the smallest is the
minute duckweed. Many small aquatic animals use plants like duckweed for a home, or for protection
from predators. But areas with more vegetation are likely to have more predators. Some other familiar
examples of aquatic plants might includefloating heart, water lily, lotus and water hyacinth.
Some aquatic plants are used by humans as a food source. Examples include wild rice (Zizania),
water caltrop (Trapa natans), Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), Indian lotus (Nelumbo
nucifera), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) and watercress (Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum)