Ecological Investigation Animals and Plants



 
Dragonflies Birds Amphibians Flowers Floating Plants Other Plants Animals from Outside
　
 

Floating Plants

     We would like to introduce the floating plants in the wetlands at school to you.

　

[Water hyacinth] by Mei-chin

      Water hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes) is a free floating water plant that is native to South America. This plant has blue-green leaves, thick stalks and a showy purple or lavender flower. The stems and leaves contain air-filled tissue which give the plant its considerable buoyancy. It thrives in tropical regions and in waters that are high in nutrients.

　

　

　

　

　
       

       The roots of water hyacinth can absorb dirty things in the water. This could be one of its  contributions as an alien species. Water hyacinth can cause a variety of problems when its rapid mat-like proliferation covers areas of fresh water. This is why we surrounded them with rocks.

　

[The plant looks like a carpet] by Shu-wei

     The duckweeds look like a carpet on the surface of water. There are lots of kinds of duckweed. Here are three of them.

     Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid: The leaves are little and round, and they are red-purple at the back side. There are 7 to 20 roots.

      Spirodela punctata: Same as the species above, the back sides of the leaves are also red-purple.However, the amounts of roots are only 3 to 5.

     Lemna aequinoctialis Welwitsch: The back of leaves is green, and there is only one root.

     Next time when you find any duckweeds, just check the color of the back and the number of roots. And you can tell which kind it belongs to more easily.

　

[Notes of picking water chestnuts] by Yong-yuan

      The leaves of water chestnuts are crenate, and the stems are filled with air. When stepping into the mud in the wetland in autumn, we could feel the freezing water just like the one in the Arctic! Even so, we still picked some water chestnuts.

      These chestnuts are delicious but a bit bitter.  Now, we can see the buds of water chestnuts. The floating leaves are just like they are swimming back and forth. What an interesting scene!

　

       Most floating plants are filled with air in their body, or have very small bodies. So, we called them the floating magic rugs on water surface.


　
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