You can collect duckweeds yourself, or you can find them for sale in small quantities from aquatic plant dealers and biological stock centers.  Since duckweeds grow rapidly, these small quantities are suitable sources for experiments and class demonstrations.  Except for the biological stock centers, these cultures are not axenic (sterile).

Your local pond or wetland. 

Collecting duckweeds in the wild is easy.  Bring small cups or bottles and collect at least enough pond water to float the collected plants, more if you want to maintain their growth.  A small net is useful for collecting the plants.  Identifying the correct genus is not difficult, although species identification requires more experience.  For most student work, species identification is unnecessary.

Aquatic plant dealers and biological supply houses. 

A few suppliers offer specific cultures.  For example:

Van Ness Water Gardens in Upland, California has Lemna minor.

Another California company, PondPlants.com offers cultures of Lemna minor and the smallest duckweed, Wolffia arrhiza.

Tropical Pond and Garden, Loxahatchee, Florida, offers cultures of  Lemna minor.

The Water Garden Shop in Portland, Oregon is another source of  Lemna minor.

Duckweeds (not identified by species) are available from several additional suppliers.

That Fish Place - That Pet Place Storefront, duckweed not identified by species, available through

Anchor Bay Aquarium in Michigan advertises live duckweed for sale by the ounce or by the pound.

Carolina Biological Supply, cat. no. WW-16-1820, 100 to 150 plants/unit.

Berkshire Biological, product code BBDW02, 2 ounces per unit.

Duckweed Living Stock Centers. 

Lemnaceae Germplasm Collection:  Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp North, Carolina State University, has obtained Prof. Elias Landolt's world-wide collection of the Lemnaceae with the aid of an NSF grant.  Prof. Landolt of the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland spent his academic career collecting and studying the Lemnaceae.  The Landolt collection consists of approximately 1000 strains, including all 32 known species.  Recently Dr. Stomp transferred the collection to Biolex, Inc., a biotechnology firm in Pittsboro, NC.  Researchers may obtain cultures from the Landolt collection by application to Biolex. Shipments require a 3 to 4 week growup period, and a shipping and handling fee may be required.  To request living plants from this collection, contact Mr. John Parsons at Biolex.

Lemna gibba, G-3 clone is available from Dr. Janet P. Slovin, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland.  Dr. Slovin has done extensive research on duckweed biochemistry and genetics.  She has isolated a number of interesting Lemna mutants and has developed a system of tissue culture for Lemna.

L. gibba, L. minor and L. trisulca:  In Canada, the University of Toronto Culture Collection (UTCC).  The UTCC maintains a number of species commonly used in bioassays for toxicity testing, including L. gibba, L. minor and L. trisulca.  "The UTCC provides cultures, media and advice for students who are conducting Science Fair projects."  Cultures are available for a fee.  Students are advised to contact the curator, Judy Acreman, for specific information on the costs.

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Revised:  August 9, 2005