Azolla Carolina - Marvelous Water Fern

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Azolla carolina grows in nature mainly in South, Central, and also in distant North America. Slow-flowing rivers, ponds and lakes are its favorite habitat. This bizarre fern forms rather amusing green islands floating on the water surface, and is distinguished by a pronounced seasonal growth pattern with a characteristic dormant period in winter. Similar to lace moss, Caroline Azolla will perfectly decorate almost any body of water

Getting to know the plant

The height of this tiny aquatic inhabitant is extremely small - about 1 - 2 cm. Azolla Karolinska is characterized by the absence of roots - their function is performed by underwater leaves. This wonderful fern floats quite freely on the water surface, and its small leaves, like tiles, are arranged in pairs on slightly branched stems. In reservoirs with characteristic tropical conditions, the miniature Caroline Azolla is a perennial, and in our latitudes it can be cultivated exclusively as an annual plant.

Oval double-rowed leaves of this wonderful fern reach a length of 5-10 mm. All of them are finely dissected, slightly tiled and pinnately branched. And spherical sori are attached to the bases of the leaves located under the water.

Azolla Karolinska is endowed with a forked-branched, horizontally located stalk and weakly expressed rhizomes, hanging in the water and looking like a thin cone with tiny branches of the roots.

From below, this marvelous fern is painted in pinkish tones, and from above it is an extremely beautiful bluish-greenish hue. If azolla caroline grows in dazzling sunlight, then its leaves can even be painted in rich red tones, since a plant growing in bright light produces a fairly solid amount of anthocyanins.

How to grow

To grow luxurious Karolinska Azolla, soft water with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction is perfect. As for the pH, the most optimal it will be less than 7, 0, and the hardness of the water should not exceed ten degrees.

As for the temperature of the water, it can be completely different. Azolla Carolina feels equally comfortable both in tropical aquariums with a water temperature of 28 degrees, and in moderately warm water (about 20 degrees). However, if suddenly the temperature drops to sixteen degrees, then the growth of the wonderful plant will stop, and after a while its leaves will begin to rot and the wonderful water fern will completely submerge in water.

A very bright light is important to Azolla Caroline. For the organization of artificial lighting, both conventional lamps and fluorescent lamps (such as LB) are taken. The power of the latter should be at least 2 - 2, 5 watts for each square decimeter of the water surface. The minimum duration of daylight hours for this beauty should be 12 hours. And since the withering away of the amazing water fern by winter is directly related to a decrease in illumination, it is possible to avoid this phenomenon by maintaining a sufficiently high water temperature in conjunction with excellent bright lighting.

In winter, a tiny aquatic inhabitant kept in aquariums can really be saved by simply moving it from the aquariums to prepared bowls filled with moistened moss. Sphagnum, a common and well-known marsh moss, is perfect for this event. The temperature for wintering should be no more than twelve degrees. And the overwintered aquatic beauty at the end of March or in April is returned back to the aquariums.

The amazing Azolla Caroline reproduces sexually (that is, by spores) or vegetatively (separated by branches). In nature, new ferns are given life by spores that persist in the bottom silt.

Under very favorable conditions, the magnificent fern grows very quickly and in the shortest possible time is able to tighten the entire surface of the reservoir.