Waterwheel Plant

Aldrovanda vesiculosa

The Waterwheel Plant is a special aquatic plant that catches tiny bugs in its whirling leaves! It grows in water and helps keep ponds healthy by providing food for small creatures.

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

The Waterwheel Plant is a rootless, free-floating aquatic plant with a central stem surrounded by whorls of specialized leaves. These leaves form tiny, clam-like traps, typically green to reddish-brown, that resemble miniature wheels.

KingdomPlantaePhylumTracheophytaClassMagnoliopsidaOrderCaryophyllalesFamilyDroseraceaeGenusAldrovanda

Waterwheel Plant

Interesting facts

It's one of the fastest moving plants on Earth, snapping shut in less than 0.02 seconds!

Once found worldwide, it's now incredibly rare in the wild due to disappearing habitats.

This amazing plant has no roots; it floats freely and hunts for its food in the water.

Waterwheel plants can form special 'winter buds' called turions to survive cold temperatures.

Special abilities

Waterwheel Plant can snap its submerged traps shut in milliseconds to catch small aquatic prey.

Waterwheel Plant has no roots, instead absorbing all necessary nutrients directly from the surrounding water.

Waterwheel Plant can break into fragments, with each piece capable of growing into a new independent plant.

Measurements & details

Height: 1-20 cm
Flower Size: 0.1-0.3 cm
Bloom Season: Summer
Edible: No
Toxicity: None
Lifecycle: Perennial
Pollination Method: Self

Ecological connections

eaten by

water flea

Daphnia pulex

Tiny crustaceans caught by traps.

eaten by

common house mosquito

Culex pipiens

Mosquito larvae provide nutrients.

eaten by

copepod

Cyclops strenuus

Small copepods are a common meal.

Traits

Flowering

Flowering plants are any plants that produce flowers as part of their reproductive cycle.

Insectivorous

This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates.

Rapid Growing

Rapid growing plants exhibit accelerated growth rates, quickly increasing in size and biomass within a short period.

Carnivorous Plant

Carnivorous plants are predatory flowering plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans.

Wetland

This habitat trait identifies species found in wetlands, which are areas of land saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, including marshes, swamps, and bogs.