Sushni (Marsilea minuta) - live plant

• One live, rooted plant
• Sold as an ornamental and botanical collector's plant
• Packaging suited to live plants

Marsilea minuta belongs to the Marsileaceae, a family of aquatic ferns. What looks like four clover leaflets is in fact a single fern frond, divided into four.

So it produces neither flowers nor seeds, but sporocarps, small hard capsules containing the spores, which form at the base of the petioles. These sporocarps are known for their extraordinary longevity: they can remain viable for decades before germinating when water returns.

This is its other curiosity. At dusk, the four leaflets close up against one another and the petiole droops: the plant folds its foliage for the night, then spreads it out again in the morning. This phenomenon, nyctinasty, is the same as in the sensitive plant or in clover.

It is a water plant. It grows in constantly waterlogged soil or in shallow water, on the edge of a pond, in a pot standing in a saucer that is always full, or in an aquarium.

Sun or partial shade, warmth. It is not hardy in our climate and must be overwintered frost-free. A creeping plant, it spreads by rhizomes and quickly covers an area.

Is it really a fern?
Yes. The absence of flowers and the presence of sporocarps confirm it. The resemblance to clover is pure coincidence of shape.

Why do its leaves close in the evening?
It is a nyctinastic movement, controlled by light. Nothing abnormal, quite the opposite: it is the sign of a healthy plant.

Can it be grown in an aquarium?
Yes, it tolerates submersion. In a shallow tank or on a pond edge, it forms a very decorative carpet.

Is it hardy?
No. Overwinter it frost-free, indoors or in a temperate greenhouse.

This plant is sold as an ornamental and botanical collector's plant. It is not offered as a food product. Also worth exploring: our rare plants.