Exploring the Potential of Duckweed and Water Lettuce as a Versatile Source for Phytoremediation—A Comprehensive Review

ABSTRACT

Phytoremediation, an eco‐friendly and cost‐effective wastewater treatment method, applies the natural ability of plants to eliminate, convert or stabilize pollutants. This review was conducted using a structured literature approach based on PRISMA‐inspired guidelines to ensure transparency in study selection and synthesis. Despite the fact that the phytoremediation potential of aquatic macrophytes have been reported in a number of studies, a majority of the reviews have concentrated on individual species or even individual pollutant with little comparative and mechanistic analysis. To fill this gap, this review presents a comprehensive analysis of duckweed ( Lemna minor ) and water lettuce ( Pistia stratiotes ) as multipurpose phytoremediation for the removal of heavy metals, organic pollutants, and excess nutrients. The most important phytoremediation processes include rhizofiltration, phytoextraction, rhizodegradation, phytotransformation, phytovolatilization, phytostabilization, and their physiological and biochemical mechanisms. In contrast to previous reviews, the given work synthesizes the recent research on the interaction between plants and microbes, the nutrient assimilation mechanisms, and the emerging hybrid remediation strategies along with the comparison of the performance of the two plants under various conditions of wastewater. Large‐scale issues concerning biomass management, scalability, and site‐specific efficiency are examined, and possible solutions to the existing challenges to facilitate effective implementation are discussed. Altogether, duckweed and water lettuce are promising and sustainable resources of wastewater purification and possess strong potential for integration into circular bioeconomy systems and future environmental management approaches.