Author: | Jean
B.A. P. de M. de Lamarck 1783 |
Family: |
Azollaceae
|
Habitat: |
Alaska,
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazi, British Columbia, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Tristan da Cunha,
Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Washington,
Wisconsin (Europe, New Zealand, Southern Africa) |
Soil: |
No: Water |
Water:
|
Plenty! |
Sun: |
Medium -
Maximum |
Height: |
3
millimetres, 13-20 millimetres wide in stage one. 50
millimetres in stage two. |
Flower:
|
No; Spores |
Propagate: |
Spores,
Dividing |
Names:
|
Water
Fern, Pacific mosquitofern, American Water Fern |
Synonyms: |
Azolla magellanica, Carl
Ludwig von Willdenow 1819.
Azolla filiculoides var. rubra,
Strasb.
Azolla filiculoides subsp. cristata, Fraser-Jenk. |
This little member of the
Azollaceae family was given this name by Jean Baptiste Antoine
Pierre de Monnet de Lamarck in 1783. It is naturally found in ponds,
canals and other waters over a huge area, and have been spread to an
even greater area. Just in the Americas, it is at least found in
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Guyana, Hawaii; (Maui), Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Tobago,
Western US, Uruguay and Venezuela. It occurs natural in many parts of
Asia and Australia, and have been spread around Europe, New Zealand
and southern Africa.
The
leaves are from green over slightly yellow to almost red. It grows
in two stages, and only the larger, mature bares megaspores.
It is grown for its ability to
fixing nitrogen from the air due to it's colorations with a
blue-green algae; Anabaena azollae.
|