Wildflower (forb) · Lemnaceae
Common duckweed
Lemna minor
Common duckweed is recorded as native to 47 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 991 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common duckweed at a glance
- Native in
- 991 counties, across 47 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- Not recorded PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common duckweed is recorded as native to 47 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 991 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 991 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 6 counties
- Alaska 9 counties
- Arizona 6 counties
- Arkansas 4 counties
- California 28 counties
- Colorado 14 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 1 county
- Georgia 2 counties
- Idaho 23 counties
- Illinois 82 counties
- Indiana 33 counties
- Iowa 11 counties
- Kansas 46 counties
- Kentucky 24 counties
- Louisiana 8 counties
- Maine 8 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 45 counties
- Minnesota 75 counties
- Missouri 48 counties
- Montana 8 counties
- Nebraska 46 counties
- Nevada 12 counties
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New Mexico 6 counties
- New York 39 counties
- North Carolina 1 county
- North Dakota 40 counties
- Ohio 44 counties
- Oklahoma 4 counties
- Oregon 21 counties
- Pennsylvania 50 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Dakota 24 counties
- Tennessee 5 counties
- Texas 4 counties
- Utah 13 counties
- Vermont 9 counties
- Virginia 39 counties
- Washington 19 counties
- West Virginia 10 counties
- Wisconsin 64 counties
- Wyoming 17 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- Not recorded
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- Not recorded
Soil
- Soil textures
- Not recorded
- pH range
- 4.1 to 8.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 0 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Not recorded
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Lemnaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LEMI3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Lemna minor (PLANTS symbol LEMI3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources