Duckweed is the fastest-growing flowering plant on Earth, capable of doubling its population in just 24 hours.

Duckweed, particularly the species Wolffia globosa, represents the pinnacle of botanical efficiency. Researchers at the Salk Institute sequenced the genome of these plants to understand their remarkable growth rate. They discovered that duckweed has lost many of the genetic "brakes" that other plants use to regulate growth based on time of day or light availability.Unlike most flowering plants, duckweed reproduces primarily through vegetative budding rather than seeds. A single mother frond can produce a daughter frond every few hours. In optimal conditions with abundant nitrogen and phosphorus, a duckweed colony can cover a one-acre pond in less than 45 days starting from just a few individual plants.This rapid biomass production makes duckweed an exceptional tool for bioremediation. Studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that duckweed can remove up to 99% of nutrients and many heavy metals from wastewater. With protein content reaching up to 40%, it is also being researched as a highly efficient livestock feed and a renewable source of ethanol.The plant's simple architecture is its greatest evolutionary advantage. By maintaining a flat, leaf-like structure called a frond, it maximizes surface area for photosynthesis while minimizing energy spent on structural support. This allows it to direct nearly all its metabolic energy toward expansion and reproduction.