Marsilea quadrifolia

Marsilea quadrifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Pteridopsida
Order:	Salviniales
Family:	Marsileaceae
Genus:	Marsilea
Species:	M. quadrifolia
Binomial name
Marsilea quadrifolia L.

Common names

'Four Leaf Clover'; European waterclover (USA); Sushni in parts of India; "aaraik keerai" in Tamil and is in use for more than 3000 years as part of food.

Origins

M. quadrifolia is found in central and southern Europe, Caucasia, western Siberia, Afghanistan, sw India, China, Japan and North America. Considered a weed in some parts of the United States where it has been well established in the north eastern States for over 100 years.^[1]

Description

Aquatic fern bearing 4 parted leaf resembling '4-leaf clover' (Trifolium). Leaves floating in deep water or erect in shallow water or on land. Leaflets obdeltoid, to 3/4" long, glaucous, petioles to 8" long; Sporocarp (ferns) ellipsoid, to 3/16" long, dark brown, on stalks to 3/4" long, attached to base of petioles.

Uses

A juice made from the leaves is diuretic and febrifuge. It is also used to treat snakebite and applied to abscesses etc.[218]. The plant is anti-inflammatory, diuretic, depurative, febrifuge and refrigerant.^[2]

Cultivation

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist or wet soil and can grow in water.^[3]

Marsilea quadrifolia can be grown as a potted plant, either just with soil kept wet, or semi-submerged, with fronds emergent from the water, or fully submerged, with the fronds floating on the surface of the water.

In the aquarium, water clover is grown fully submerged, usually in the foreground where it spreads by means of runners. It normally seems to be unfussy as to light and water conditions, and doesn't need a rich substrate.

Marsileas are very easy to germinate from their sporocarps. However, the sporocarps must be abraded, cracked, or have an edge sliced off before submerging them in water so that the water can penetrate to swell the tissues, and germination is infrared-light dependent. Full sunlight is fine for this purpose.

References

1. ^ Non-indigenous Aquatic species
2. ^ Plants For a Future
3. ^ Plants For a Future

• Rataj Dr. Karel and Horeman T J, Aquarium Plants, TFH Publications (1977)

External links

• Marsilea Quadrifolia
• Natural Aquariums
• Connecticut Botanical Society - good photographs
• photographs
• Flora of North America - useful identification info