Azolla pinnata R. Brown

Family: Salviniaceae

Common names:  mosquito fern

Disseminule:  Spores, whole plants

Brief description

A free-floating annual water fern 0.8-2.5 cm long, with tiny scale-like 2-lobed leaves; lobes each 1-2 mm long; leaves green or red, often giving water surface reddish appearance. Main stem with pinnate branches; branches longer towards base giving plant a triangular shape. Roots with fine lateral rootlets, appearing feathery. Produces both male and female spores.

Identification remarks

Diagnostic characteristics:

vegetative: triangular shape of plants; feathery appearance of roots

sexual: megasporangium has 9 floats; microsporangial massulae have no glochidia, but have vacuolated trichomes

Similar species

Azolla caroliniana Willd.

Azolla filiculoides Lam.

Distribution

Native to tropical Africa, South Africa, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, New Guinea, Australia.

Also found in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Korea, Southeast Asia, New Zealand.

Habitat

Subtropical and tropical; in lakes, slow moving streams and rivers, marshes, ponds, wetlands, paddy fields, ditches.

General information

Azolla pinnata has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia as a fertilizer in rice production. The rice benefits from A. pinnata's symbiotic relationship with the cyanobacteria Anabaena azollae, which fixes nitrogen and grows in a cavity in the dorsal lobe of the fern's leaves. A. pinnata dies in the summer heat and the decaying plants release nitrogen to the soil. A. pinnata is also considered a weed, however. It can quickly spread to cover open areas of water. It forms dense surface mats that impede water flow and navigation, and clog irrigation pumps. The mats also reduce oxygen levels and light available to other aquatic organisms. Vegetative reproduction is by dispersal of basal branches that themselves form pinnate branches and break off the main stem.

Photo: © S. Navie

Photo: © S.L. Winterton

Photo: © S. Navie

Photo: © S. Navie

Photo: © K. Stüber

Photo: © K. Stüber

Photo: © K. Stüber

Photo: © K. Stüber