Tag: Wolffia globosa

Often called the world's smallest vegetable, Mankai is a proprietary trade name for a cultivated aquatic plant, derived from its Thai name "Khai nam" or "water egg". The definitive scientific name for Mankai is *Wolffia globosa*, a free-floating plant belonging to the duckweed family, Lemnaceae.

Mankai is a proprietary strain of *Wolffia globosa*, a species that is part of the larger duckweed family. While related, this means that not all duckweed is mankai. This relationship is similar to how a Granny Smith is a specific type of apple, but not all apples are Granny Smiths.