Swaziland's Alien Plants Database

Azolla filiculoides Lam.

AZOLLACEAE

Red water fern

Invasive, Swaziland Status Unknown

Origin: Tropical South America

Growth Form: Aquatic herb

Plant Description: Plant: Perennial, mat-forming, free-floating, aquatic fern with horizontal stems up to 25–35 mm long; branching pattern is loosely alternate (as opposed to regularly pinnate in the indigenous A. pinnata); roots without fine laterals (as in A. pinnata). Leaves: Silvery-green turning reddish-brown or purplish in winter, 1.0–1.5 mm long, broadly ovate to almost circular, apices blunt. Fruit: Minute, in the axils of the leaves, October–February; reproduction also occurs from detached plant fragments.

Key Features:

Control:

Comments: Possible