The world's smallest flowering plant has no roots, no stem, and barely any leaves
Wolffia, or watermeal, floats on still water as specks barely a millimetre across — smaller than a grain of rice — yet it's a true flowering plant that produces the tiniest flowers and fruit known to botany. A 2021 genome study found it has lost hundreds of genes other flowering plants rely on, including ones for roots and for sensing light, stripped-down adaptations for a life spent drifting on the surface.