[3][8] In cooler conditions, the plant becomes dormant and sinks to the bottom of the water body to overwinter as a turion.

[9] As a mixotroph, it can produce its own energy by photosynthesis or absorb it from the environment in the form of dissolved carbon.

It was transferred to the current genus Wolffia in the 19th century based on works of Johann Horkel and the third edition of the Flora von Schlesien preußischen und österreichischen Antheils by Christian Friedrich Heinrich Wimmer in 1857.

[10][11] It contains many amino acids important to the human diet, relatively large amounts of dietary minerals and trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and vitamin B12.

[11] It has long been used as a cheap food source in Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, where it is known as khai-nam ("eggs of the water").