Anna Jowell

#azolla #waterfern #nativeplants
#naturalist #symbiosis #aquatic #pnwplants #ancientplants

31.01.2025 16:41 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Azolla filiculoides Azolla filiculoides Although I had read about these interesting, and rather beautiful, tiny ferns in the family Salviniaceae (water ferns), I had never knowingly found them before yesterday. But re…

There's a fascinating write up on this species here 10000thingsofthepnw.com/2021/09/06/a... - a little tidbit (paraphrased):
These ancient plants have a really cool symbiosis with the cyanobacteria partner Anabaena azolla, which fix nitrogen from the air, converting it to ammonia to feed the plant.

31.01.2025 16:38 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A picture of a pond with deciduous forest surrounding. The surface of the pond has a mix of green and red/pink vegetation covering it.

A picture looking closer at the pink/red and green floating plants on the pond surface.

A close up picture of the pink and green plants on the pond surface, frozen in a sheet of ice.

A few of the plants removed from the pond and laid across a clipboard, showing the roots extending down from the foliage that sits on top of the surface.

On a site visit, this pond at first glance looked quite unsettling. After closer inspection, thanks to iNat app, I confirmed that this is "water fern", or Azolla filiculoides.

I had seen this Azolla at a diff site a while back, also in a pond among deciduous canopy, with beaver activity.

31.01.2025 16:37 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 3    📌 0