Marsilea crenata
22nd May 2007
Marsilea is an odd genus or ferns that grow around the world in marshy and riverside habitats. They are sometimes grown as aquatic plants, but they very quickly
burst above the water surface - they tolerate submersion rather than seek it out. I have no idea how you separate out the species - I just accept the
names I am given. I used to grow M.quadrifolia as a sort of fake four leaved clover, which I regularly left as bookmarks in library books
(it is a strange sort of luddite anarchy to leave something so loaded with superstition in a heavyweight technical text). I was a strange youth.
Since then, I have come across this species, which looks exactly the same to me. Vigorous in a pot standing in water.
I am very fond of it, and I do still leave leaves lying around on the table when knowledgeable friends come for coffee! People find it perplexing and feign polite
indifference.
1st June 2008