A fruit can be tiny and still be a fruit
In botany, “fruit” does not mean something large, sweet, or fleshy. It means the structure that develops from a flower’s ovary after fertilization and contains or protects seeds. Wolffia’s body is a minute floating plant, but it can still form a flower and produce a seed-bearing fruit. The reproductive structure follows the same basic plan as a much larger plant’s; it is simply scaled down dramatically.
Wolffia usually multiplies without flowers, by producing small daughter plants that grow from the parent. Flowering and seed production are another route for reproduction, not a requirement for the plant’s everyday growth.
Why dried samples look more nutritious
A fresh Wolffia plant contains a great deal of water. When it is dried, that water leaves while most of the protein and other solid nutrients remain. The nutrients therefore make up a larger share of the dried plant’s weight. The change is in concentration, not creation: drying does not add protein.
That distinction matters whenever foods are compared. A dry sample is best compared with other dry samples; comparing it directly with a fresh plant makes the plant’s water count as weight too. The tiny plant’s impressive-looking dry composition is real, but it describes its solids—not the full weight of the living plant.
