Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that grows in or near water and is either emergent, submergent, or floating. Many small aquatic animals use plants such as duckweed for a home, or for protection from predators. Some other familiar examples of aquatic plants might include floating heart, water lily, lotus, and water hyacinth. Aquatic plants can be divided into four groups: algae, floating plants, submerged plants and emergent plants. Younger kids, however, are probably better off learning to pick out a representative of these four types of water plants without necessarily remembering the names of the categories to which they belong.