General Landscape Uses:
Water gardens and ponds.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Floating aquatic herbaceous fern.
Dimensions: N/A; a floating aquatic.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Widespread in the United States south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland; West Indies, southern Mexico, Central America and South America.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Freshwater ponds and swamps.
Soils: A floating aquatic in standing or flowing water.
Nutritional Requirements: Low; it grows in nutirent poor water; it can become aggressive in nutrient-rich water.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade or moderate shade.
Flower Color: N/A.
Flower Characteristics: There are no flowers; the plants reproduce by spores.
Flowering Season: All year.
Fruit: Inconspicuous spores.
Comments: See a 2019 post on the
Treasure Coast Natives blog on the relationship between barnyard grass and Carolina mosquito fern.
