Floating pigmyweed facts for kids

The Crassula natans, also known as floating pigmyweed, is a small plant from the Crassulaceae family. It's a type of herb that often lives in water.

Floating Pigmyweed: A Tiny Water Plant

This plant is an annual herb, meaning it completes its entire life cycle in one year. You'll often find it growing in watery places. It blooms between July and November, showing off small white-pink flowers.

What Does It Look Like?

The floating pigmyweed has thin, sprawling branches. These branches can be about 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. If the plant grows in a marshy area, its branches might spread out a lot. If it's floating in water, the branches can be longer, up to 25 centimeters (10 inches).

Its leaves are long and narrow. For plants in marshes, the leaves are about 8 millimeters (0.3 inches) long and 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) wide. For plants that float, the leaves can be longer, around 14 millimeters (0.55 inches) long and 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) wide.

Where Can You Find It?

This plant is native, or only found naturally, in the wetlands of the Cape Fold area. This region is part of the Western Cape in South Africa.

However, the floating pigmyweed has also started growing on its own in other places. It is now found in Western Australia. There, it grows in wet areas during winter, as well as in gullies and lakes. You can spot it in the Great Southern, Wheatbelt, South West, and Peel regions of Western Australia. It also grows across southern South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria.