Spiny naiad (Najas marina) is a small, submerged annual aquatic plant found in freshwater and brackish water across much of the world. It is grown mainly in aquaria and ponds, and suits still, nutrient-moderate water over mud or peat.
Family
Hydrocharitaceae (Hydrocharit family)
Grows as
Aquatic
Light
Bright indirect
Water
Keep fully submerged in water; it does not grow out of water.
Soil
Grows rooted in mud or deep peat, or floats loose in water.
Temperature
Cool to temperate water; roughly 10–22 °C, dies back in cold winters as an annual.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Cosmopolitan
Climate
temperate
About
Najas marina is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names spiny water nymph, spiny naiad and holly-leaved naiad. It is an extremely widespread species, reported across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas and many oceanic islands. It can be found in many types of freshwater and brackish aquatic habitat, including bodies of alkaline water.
Where it grows
Najas marina has a wide, almost circumglobal distribution in temperate and tropical regions. It occurs in mesoeutrophic water over deep peat or mud. It was first recorded in the British Isles in 1883 at Hickling Broad in Norfolk where it had become established. Populations declined in the 1960s because of pollution, but action has been taken to reduce the level of nutrients in the Norfolk Broads and the water quality has improved.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Najas marina by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.