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Pilularia globulifera
Pilularia globulifera, or pillwort, is an unusual species of fern in the family Marsileaceae. It is native to western Europe, where it grows at the edges of lakes, ponds, ditches and marshes, on wet clay or clay-sand soil, sometimes in water up to 30 cm (12 in) deep.
Pillwort grows on silt and mud at the margins of lakes, ponds and other watercourses that are submerged for at least part of the year. Some of the plants growing in association with this species in the UK include water celery (Apium inundatum), marsh pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris) and lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula). In its habitat in shallow water on pond margins or in poached wet grassland, it seems to grow well in bare locations where it faces little competition. Populations vary greatly from year to year; it sometimes "disappears" from a site only to recur there many years later, and cleaning out a ditch may stimulate it to reappear.
Pillwort can be grown in a "bog garden" or as a marginal aquatic in a garden pond.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pilularia globulifera by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
