# Question about Marsilea Minuta & Quadrifolia



## phreeflow (Aug 4, 2007)

Plant noob here..

Just wondering if anyone on the forum could shed some light on whether the leaves of Marsilea Minuta look like a four leaf clover like Marsilea Quadrifolia. All the pics I've seen show it to look similar to glossostigma but darker in color. 

Also, can anyone tell me how tall the quadrifolia and the minuta get.

thank all


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Grown emersed they have the 'four leaf clover' 'leaves', but when under water they usually have the simple single lobed leaves. I've got M.crenata and submersed it is about 1cm tall. I don't know whether this is the same as M.hirsuta or crenata but the pictures I've seen of submerged plants they look pretty much identical. Think M.quadrifolia gets a bit bigger, but not sure how big submerged.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I have M. Minuta and underwater growth is (at least in all of mine) is 1 lobe. My minuta is very short. I also have M. ? But it's the bigger version, again single lobed just taller. 

I got mine from a club member. And that's the only time ive seen it, great stuff though.


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

it really is great stuff. occasionally mine will shoot off a leaf with a cleft to it, but all the sumbersed growth is pretty much single leafed. when I got it, it had been growing floating, so it had a lot of emersed growth. that all died off when I submerged it... 

when planting it, cut the runner up into individual plants... don't try to plant the whole thing, it becomes messy, and doesn't spread as fast. the long runner will be hard to keep buried... trust me on this one!

it's crazy how it sends off the really long thin runners with tiny tiny leaves on them occasionally... floats around until it gets trapped and then starts growing another plant. really cool.


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

The Quadrifolia in submerge form is about 10cm in tall and got a equal "four clover" leaf.When emerged it tall about 3-5cm *in high-light environment* but it'll get as high as your tank is in a low-light environment :heh:


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

hmm. I've never seen it that tall. I wonder if I have the same stuff.


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## mrkookm (Oct 25, 2006)

I have the M Crenata and it looks exactly like the picture below, puts out single, tri and quad lobe leaves?

This picture was taken from *http://rva.jp*


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

yup, that's what I have. I've just never seen it 10cm


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

Im talking about the H.Quadrifolia.


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## phreeflow (Aug 4, 2007)

Thanks to everyone for all the input. I knew there were so many Marsilea sp....I only knew about Quadrifolia and Minuta. Well, I have some quadrifolia that I fell in love with because of the four leaf clovers. It was about 6-7 inches tall when I first purchased it but submerged, it is now only 2 inches tall and either has 2,3, or 4 lobes...none that are single. I'm hoping it stays this way and doesn't become single lobed. I just received an order of minuta that was grown submersed and it's all single lobed. STill nice but not was I was looking for. 

I started this thread because I'm looking for a Marsilea species that retains the multi-lobed features...especially 4 leaf clover style. But it seems they all convert to single lobed eventually. Am I making the correct assumption here or does anyone know of a Marsilea species that does retain the multiple lobes? Better yet, does anyone have any for sale?

Also, can someone list how tall they get underwater from shortest to tallest? I'm guessing minuta is the shortest but what's next?

thanks again!


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

My marsilea crenata averages just under 1cm tall, but a few leaves are a little over 2cm (nearly an inch) tall. It's single lobed, but I've recently put some in a pot to grow it emersed and the third leaf it produced has two lobes! It's growing very quickly emersed too. I'm hoping to grow enough emersed to make a big lawn of it much more quickly than submersed growth will do.


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## phreeflow (Aug 4, 2007)

ed seeley said:


> My marsilea crenata averages just under 1cm tall, but a few leaves are a little over 2cm (nearly an inch) tall. It's single lobed, but I've recently put some in a pot to grow it emersed and the third leaf it produced has two lobes! It's growing very quickly emersed too. I'm hoping to grow enough emersed to make a big lawn of it much more quickly than submersed growth will do.


 Great idea to grow it emersed to speed up the growth  . But I was told that most of the emersed growth will die back once the plant is fully submersed... My Quadrifolia for instance was grown emersed and had a lot of long growth/clovers but once it was submerged again, 95% of the plant died back and shorter growth took it's place but at a very slow pace.:heh: Keep us updated and good luck!:mrgreen:


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

The fronds will die back, but a healthy rhizome should produce new submersed fronds very quickly. My initial plants were grown emersed and I left the old fronds on but they just attracted algae, so next time I'll cut them off and just bury the rhizome with no leaves I think.

Four leaves now!!!


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## phreeflow (Aug 4, 2007)

Hey Ed, 

Thanks for the tip and update! eace: 
Makes sense...although the growth dies back, the benefit of growing the Marsilea emersed is to grow the rhizome nice and big.... :doh: 

Thanks


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