Summary ⁶

Giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) is a submersed aquatic freshwater perennial species that is native to South America. It has oval/oblong leaves, some emergent and others submergent. Floating/emergent leaves are green with rows of white, bristly hairs. Submerged leaves are brown, highly divided, and dangles underwater and can be easily mistaken for roots. It grows rapidly, and can double in size in 2-3 days under optimal conditions.

Not known to occur in CO.

Sources:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEByKAiA1w24VT1OEFTI-mjnyAht9OGx/view

Identification ⁶

Height: 1-2 inches above water surace
Shape: Free-floating aquatic fern
Flowers: no flowers
Stems: Horizontal stems float just below the water's surface.
Leaves: Upper leaves green with white bristly hairs that are split and resemble eggbeaters. Submerged leaf brown, finely divided. Individual leaves can range from a few millimeters to 4 centimeters in length.
Seeds: Spores produced in long chains of sporocarps found on the submerged leaves.
Toxic: No
Root: Rootless, but highly divided submerged leaves resemble feathery roots

Other: Under optimal conditions it can double its size in 2-3 days.

Sources:
http://www.cwma.org/GiantSalvinia.html
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEByKAiA1w24VT1OEFTI-mjnyAht9OGx/view

Origin/Habitat ⁶

Giant Salvinia is native to South America. It prefers calm water and is commonly found in lakes, ponds, oxbows, ditches, slow flowing streams, backwater swamps, marshes, and rice fields. It can withstand low temperatures and water draw down through latent buds, but it cannot tolerate ice formation on the water surface. The plant rapidly spreads vegetatively via leaf and stem fragments, which are often introduced by contaminated watercraft.

Source:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEByKAiA1w24VT1OEFTI-mjnyAht9OGx/view
http://www.cwma.org/GiantSalvinia.html

Sources and Credits

1. (c) IRRI Images, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricephotos/856770675/
2. (c) Miroslav Fiala, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/74897.jpg
3. (c) Eric Keith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Eric Keith
4. (c) 2009 Barry Rice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/0509/1724.jpeg
5. (c) sea-kangaroo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by sea-kangaroo
6. (c) Colorado Parks and Wildlife, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• African Plants - a photo guide
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• Catalogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
• eFloras.org
• Flora Digital de Portugal
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
• Plants of the World Online
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online
• 日本のレッドデータ検索システム
• 植物和名−学名インデックス YList

iNat Map