eastern mosquito fern
Azolla caroliniana
Azolla cristata, the Carolina mosquito fern, Carolina azolla, or water velvet, is a species of the Azolla genus native to the Americas, in eastern North America from southern Ontario southward, from the east coast west to Wisconsin and Texas, the Caribbean, and in Central and South America from southeastern Mexico (Chiapas) south to northern Argentina and Uruguay.
It is a freshwater aquatic fern, with scale-like fronds 5–10 mm long, green to reddish, most often reddish in winter and in strong light. They are covered in tiny trichomes that give it the appearance of velvet. It is able to fix nitrogen from the air by means of symbiotic cyanobacteria. It can survive winter water temperatures of 5 °C (41 °F), with optimum summer growth between 25–30 °C (77–86 °F).
From the article Azolla cristata on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
At the table
A. cristata is of commercial importance in cultivation in southern and eastern Asia as a biofertilizer, valued for its nitrogen-fixing ability, which benefits crops such as rice when the fern is grown under it and reduces the need for artificial fertilizer. The thick mat of fronds (up to 4 cm thick) also suppresses weed growth. Harvested fronds are also used as a food for fish and poultry. It is also often used as a floating plant in both coldwater and tropical aquaria, as well as in outdoor ponds; it is propagated by division.
Wikipedia: “Cultivation and uses”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Azolla caroliniana in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 68866.