As decoration of the foreground of an artificial reservoir, Marsilia looks great. This is a wonderful aquarium plant with thick green leaves that are similar to the leaves of ordinary clover. Therefore, it is often called water clover. In order for such a beautiful plant to take root well in the new habitat, some rules of planting and care should be observed.
In the article, we will become more familiar with four-leaf marsilia and harsut marsilia.
Types of Marsilia
According to the place and conditions of growth, the marsilia are divided into two types:
- Emersion (surface), with long and thin petioles resembling the leaves of Russian acid. On them are four-leafed leaves.
- Submersal (water), having leaves of various shapes and with different numbers of petals. It depends on the conditions of water supply and lighting.
The most common types of aquatic ferns in aquariums are as follows:
- Marsilea quadrifolia - four leaf marsilia;
- Marsilea crenata - town Marsilia;
- Marsilea hirsuta - marsilia hirsuta or marsilia stiff-haired.
All of them are representatives of different geographical regions.
General information
Marsilia (or Marsileia) belongs to the genus of ferns from the Marsiliev family. In total, it includes 30 varieties of aquatic ferns, called "water clover" or "four-leaf clover" due to their similarity to the usual plant for us.
Four-leafed Marsilia is the most popular and easily accessible aquarium plant belonging to the class Fern-shaped order Fern (Salvinius family). This is a small perennial herbaceous plant whose rhizome has a thin and branching structure. It can spread over the surface of the soil, and immerse a little in moist soil.
In Marsilia, growing in the temperate zone, only the rhizome submerged in the ground survives in winter, and the leaves die. And in the tropic zone, these ferns remain evergreen all year round.
Places of growth
Four-leaf fern Marsilia in vivo is widespread in the subtropical zones of Europe, Africa and Asia. Many of the varieties are common in North America, Madagascar and the Comoros. Culture as habitats prefers various water channels, shallow water along river banks and rice fields.
In those places where the soil is slightly flooded with water, fern stands form a dense and extensive carpet. In the case of a fairly deep body of water, where the water is still, small islands of Marsilia can float on the water surface.
Four-leafed Marsilia (Marsilea quadrifolia)
The plant has a branched and creeping rhizome, thanks to which the bush is well fixed in the ground.
The stems grow up to 15 centimeters, and for the formation of the "carpet", the shoots must be cut. This culture has hard dark green glossy leaves, divided into four parts, due to which it received its name - “four-leaf clover”.
The rhizome of the four-leaf type of plant has a light brown or greenish tint. It is rather densely covered with brown hairs. The thickness of the root system is up to 0.8 mm. Petioles with dark green leaves divided into 4 parts extend from it. Four-leaf Marsilia - an excellent aquarium plant, perfect for growing in the foreground a domestic pond. It is quite popular among hobbyists.
The first description of Marsilia was made in 1825.
It is distributed on almost the entire African continent, in tropical Asia, Madagascar and the Comoros. From natural habitats, the plant was brought to North America, where today it grows almost everywhere.
Marcilia Hirsuta
In nature, Marsilia hirsuta "lives" in the waters of Australia. It grows, like four-leaf Marsilia, relatively slowly, does not require special care and is suitable for aquariums.
Marsilea hirsuta is a very attractive species of ferns. And her leaves are like clover leaves. It should be noted that almost all plants of this family are very similar to each other. Marsilia Hirsuta is easily confused with Marsilia Drumond or Quadrofolia.
Soft leaves are triangular-wedge-shaped to the touch. Depending on the lighting and conditions of detention, the shape of the leaves and the number of petals may vary. They can be from 1 to 4, and they are located at different heights from each other.
Under growing conditions in aquariums, plants can reach a height of up to 10 cm, a width of up to 20 cm.
