Exploring Duckweed Diversity at the Dawn of Its Cultivation Era: The Invaluable Legacy of the Landolt Collection

The aquatic plant family Lemnaceae, commonly called duckweed or water lentil, has attracted increasing interest in the scientific literature over the past two decades. It holds extraordinary potential as a new crop due to its multiple applications: as an alternative protein source for feed and food production, as a starch producer for renewable biofuel, and for its capacity to provide valuable ecosystem services. Its high biomass productivity, ability to thrive under a wide range of environmental conditions, lack of requirement for arable land, and aptitude for nutrient recycling from wastewater align with the criteria for future sustainable crops. The Lemnaceae is a small plant family comprising a still uncertain number of species and hybrids with largely unexplored genetic diversity, owing to its taxonomic complexity. We focus on critical aspects that must be addressed to establish duckweed as a viable crop: the availability and accessibility of genomic resources to understand the genetic basis of key agronomic traits; the development of protocols for flower induction and crossing; and the establishment of effective methods for genetic transformation and plant regeneration, all aimed at enabling selection and breeding strategies. We highlight the importance of duckweed germplasm collections, including accessions from a wide geographic and ecological range, as essential resources for addressing duckweed diversity and supporting both fundamental research and agronomic applications.