Aquat'ic Plants, a general name applied to any plants which live either wholly or partly in water. Some of these plants are rooted in the ground and grow through the water, raising their leaves and blossoms above the surface. The leaves of some of these are very large, and the flowers beautiful. Other plants remain almost wholly submerged, the leaves in that case becoming small and more or less thread-like, while the flowers may be either submerged or floating on the surface. Many of the seaweeds and some plants in the inland waters are buoyed up by bladders that form on the leaves, and in a few species the plants break loose entirely from the earth and float about in the waters, from which they obtain their subsistence by means of their roots. There are representatives of aquatic plants in many different families, of which the common water lily, the pond weed, the cat-tail and the water hyacinth are notable examples.