Free Floating Plants Cloze Reading Passage

Name: ________________________________________________________

Class Period:______________________ Date:______________________

Free-floating plants are not ___________in the sediment; they get their nutrients directly from the water.Free-floating plants include duckweeds and some ___________.

Water lettuce and water hyacinth are __________ plants but they also happen to be extremely invasive in Florida waters.

Water hyacinth is considered "the worst aquatic ______ in the world" because it has invaded the waterways of many countries.When conditions are right, water hyacinth or water lettuce grow extremely well and are capable of completely _______ the surface of a waterbody.This can cause major habitat, recreational, navigational and _____ control problems.

Nature gave us very few free-floating plants compared to the number of __________ plants that exist in the world.

Word Bank

anchored       weed           bladderworts        covering

flood                 Florida         free-floating     submersed

A collaboration of the UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants
and the Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Invasive Plant Management.
UE/EA 6/08/06
SSS: SC.F.1.2, SC.F.2.2, SC.G.1.2, SC.G.2.2, SC.H.1.2, SC.H.3.2, LA.A.1.2