The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern – Marsilea Crenata one of the best aquatic plants which commonly used as a foreground ground cover plant. This aquarium plant is categorized as a part of clover fern species.
This small aquarium plant native from tropical Asia and Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia, And Northern and Central-eastern Queensland).
These plants commonly grow on drying mud and shallow water, including rice fields. These aquatic plants have become a popular ground cover plant among the aquarist and a be good choice for carpeting the foreground area in the tank.

The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
Marsilea Crenata is also known as “Dwarf Clover Fern” or “Dwarf Four Leaf Clover.” The Marsilea Crenata can’t be clearly differentiated from Marsiela Minuta and might even belong to that variety (Nagalingum & al. 2007).

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The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
The names marsilea Crenata, Marsilea Quadrifolia, Marsilea Drummundii, Marsilea Exarata, And Marsilea Hirsuta can generally be found in the trade. But, it can not be uncertain whether the aquatic plants designated in this way are correctly identified.

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The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
The Marsilea plant species are normally only correct identification in their emersed form on the basic characteristic of the sporocapies or known as spore fruits. Until the article was written, there is no botanical literature on how these aquarium plant species differ in submerged form.
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The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
In their habitat, the Marsilea Crenata has been seen like other clover ferns like Marsilea Quadrifolia or Marsilea Hirsuta. The four-fold emersed leaves of this plant look similar to “Lucky Clover,” which tend to be bare or are very sparsely hairy.

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The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
According to the information from “Ferns Of Western Australia” (http://fernswa.myspecies.info/taxonomy/term/63/descriptions), In their habitat, the Marsilea Crenata has characteristic as the follows below:
- M. Crenata is an aquatic fern species commonly found in shallow freshwater
- They have long and creeping rhizomes with sterile fronds born at intervals around 1 – 4 centimeters.
- In mud area, these fronds can be growth erected and tend to be floating when growing in water
- Their fronds composed of a slender stipe that can grow reach a length up to 30 Cm depending on the depth of the water and also their fronds tend to be hairless but can glabrescent
- Their main roots tend to appear along the rhizomes where their fronds are growing. And it also has secondary roots that can reach up to 5 millimeters long
- This aquatic plant has terminal leaflets, and located at the end of every stripe are a pair of spreading. The terminal leaflets can be hairy or glabrous and can reach up to 5 millimeters long and wide up to 25 millimeters
- Their four leaflets make the M. Crenata closely similar to a four-leaf clover. During adolescent growth, their erect leaflets can be reduced to one erect leaflet
- The sporocarps of M. Crenata are stalked and can be either solitary or clustered and hold a more / less D form. Their sporocarps tend to become hairless and are laterally flattened, and also has a size of an out around 2 – 2.5 millimeters by 1.5 – 2.5 millimeters.
- Their sporocarps have 2 different basal teeth, the lower part is small and blunt, and the upper part is spiny and good developed
The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
Read also:
- The Best Plants For Freshwater Aquarium Ground Covering “Helanthium Bolivianum Or Bolivian Sword”
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As you know, the Marsilea Crenata is a good small aquarium plant for carpeting the substrate. This substrate cover plant is suitable for planted in the foreground or midground to create a lawn effect in the aquarium. This plant grows slowly, but they are easy to keep and hardy. Don’t forget to use aquascaping tweezers to plant this aquatic plant in the aquarium.
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The Best Small Foreground Aquarium Plants Marsilea Crenata Or Dwarf Clover Fern
Plant Profile:
- Major group: Ferns (monilophytes)
- Order: Salviniales – floating fern-like
- Family: Marsileaceae – fern family
- Genus: Marsilea
- Botanical Name: Marsílea crenáta C. Presl
- Common Name: Dwarf clover fern, Dwarf Four Leaf Clover
- Origin: Asia And Australia
- Difficulty: Easy
- Growth: Slow
- Lighting Needs: Medium – High
- Carbon Dioxide: 15 – 25 mg/l
- Propagation: Runners, Cutting Off Daughter Plants, Splittings
- Plant Type: Fern, Rhizome, Creeping Stem
- Can grow emersed?: Yes
- Suitable for Beginners: No
- Availability: Occasionally Available commercially
- Potioning In Aquarium: Foreground, Ground Cover