European Frogbit

Did you know

• Frogbit resembles a miniature water lily — its round, floating leaves are about the size of a 50-pence coin, and the three-petaled white flowers with a yellow center float just at the water surface.
• The plant is genuinely aquatic — it floats entirely free of the substrate in summer, held at the surface by air-filled leaf stalks, with no true roots anchored in mud and drifting freely with current and wind.
• In winter, frogbit produces specialized overwintering buds called turions — dense, starchy, 1cm brown buds that sink to the bottom, lying dormant in sediment until warming spring water triggers them to float back up and grow.
• The species name 'morsus-ranae' means 'frog's bite' in Latin — an old folk belief held that frogs nibbled the plant's leaves, which explains the small notched appearance of some leaves; in reality, insect damage is usually responsible.
• While native to Europe and Asia, frogbit has become invasive in parts of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, where it forms dense floating mats that shade out native aquatic plants and reduce oxygen levels for fish.

Color meanings

Uses

• aquatic ornamental
• pond plant
• wildlife habitat