Salvinia natans is a small floating aquatic fern, often mistaken for moss, that forms dense mats on still fresh water. Grow it in sunny, calm, nutrient-rich water, and keep it contained because it can cover a pond completely.
Family
Salviniaceae (Salvini family)
Grows as
Fern, Aquatic, Annual
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Grows floating on the water surface; no watering needed, keep the water level stable.
Temperature
15–30 °C; protect from freezing, as it is killed by hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Temp. Eurasia to Indo-China, Jawa
Climate
temperate
About
Salvinia natans (commonly known as floating fern, floating watermoss, floating moss, or commercially, water butterfly wings) is an annual floating aquatic fern, which can appear superficially similar to moss. It is found throughout the world where there is plentiful standing fresh water, sunlight, and humid air, but is especially common in Africa, Asia and central Europe. In New York State and Massachusetts, it is an introduced species.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salvinia natans 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.