This blue-green vegetation is characterized by a long thin stalk with bubble-like nodules, supporting a bulbous, air-filled cap. This cap enables the body to float when carried away by flood waters.
Bubble thistles inhabit the flood plains, attaching to the soil by a simple root system. During flooding, bubble thistles detach and float into sea, becoming fully aquatic.
Bubble thistles are autotrophs, producing chemical energy from light, water, carbon dioxide, and micronutrients absorbed by roots.
A bubble thistle reproduces asexually by releasing small spores from its stalk when floating in water. The current carries these spores to shore, where they attach to the soil, grow roots and develop into adults.
Bubble Thistles have a symbiotic relationship with single-celled organisms that live in the nodules along the stalk. These microscopic organisms provide the bubble thistle with nitrogen absorbed from the atmosphere in exchange for carbohydrates made by the bubble thistle through photosynthesis.