Ceratopteris - Floating Fern, Water Fern, Water Hornfern, Water Sprite

(Ceratop'teris)

DESCRIPTION: These interesting tropical, aquatic Ferns are found in ponds and lakes in many parts of the world, including North America. C. pteridoides, the Floating Fern, is an edible plant from South America. It is found growing wild in Florida, along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. This plant produces rosettes of pale green, floating, sterile fronds that are buoyed up with internal air pockets. Taller, much-divided, larger, fertile fronds stand upright in the center of these. Viviparous buds form in the notches of the leaf margins. C. thalictroides, commonly called Water Fern, Water Sprite, or Water Hornfern, is a native to Madagascar and eastern Asia. This species is grown in Japan as a spring vegetable. This plant sometimes roots into the mud. It grows from 21 to 30 inches above the water and produces two types of light green fronds; one kind is deeply divided and fertile and the other kind is parsley-like and sterile. Buds form in the notches of the fertile fronds and produce new plantlets.

POTTING: These plants can be grown outdoors year-round in warm climates. In cool regions, they may be wintered in a lighted aquarium. These floating Ferns are simply set in the water. Floating plants are excellent for a natural filtering system, though too many will reduce the amount of air in the water; therefore, if you have fish you will need additional aeration.

PROPAGATION: Bulbils may be pegged onto moist soil in a minimum temperature of 75 degrees.

VARIETIES: C. pteridoides; C. thalictroides.

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