Salvinia
Salvinia | |
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Salvinia minima | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Order: | Salviniales |
Family: | Salviniaceae |
Genus: | Salvinia Ség. |
Type species | |
Salvinia natans (L.) All.
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Species | |
See text |
Salvinia, a genus in the family Salviniaceae, is a floating fern named in honor of Anton Maria Salvini, a 17th-century Italian scientist. Watermoss is a common name for Salvinia.[1] The genus was published in 1754 by Jean-François Séguier, in his description of the plants found round Verona, Plantae Veronenses[2] Twelve species are recognized, at least three of which (S. molesta, S. herzogii, and S. minima) are believed to be hybrids, in part because their sporangia are found to be empty.
Salvinia is related to the other water ferns, including the mosquito fern Azolla. Recent sources include both Azolla and Salvinia in Salviniaceae, although each genus was formerly given its own family.
Salvinia, like the other ferns in
Salvinia cucullata is one of just two fern species for which a reference genome has been published.[4]
Description
Small, floating aquatics with creeping stems, branched, bearing hairs on the leaf surface papillae but no true roots. Leaves are in trimerous whorls, with two leaves green, sessile or short-petioled, flat, entire and floating, and one leaf finely dissected, petiolate, rootlike and pendent. Submerged leaves bearing sori that are surrounded by basifixed membranous indusia (sporocarps).
They bear sporocarps of two types, either megasporangia that are few in number (approximately 10), each with single megaspore, or many microsporangia, each with 64 microspores. Spores are of two kinds and sizes, both globose, trilete. Megagametophytes and microgametophytes protruding through sporangium wall; megagametophytes floating on water surface with archegonia directed downward; microgametophytes remaining fixed to sporangium wall.
The small, hairlike growths, known as trichomes or microgametical follicles, are not known to have any productive function, and are currently a biological mystery.
Phylogeny
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Other species include:
- S. auriculata Aublet
- S. biloba Raddi
- S. ×delasotae Miranda & Schwartsburd 2019 {Salvinia sprucei × Salvinia minima}
- S. hastata Desvaux
- S. martynii Kopp
- S. nuriana de la Sota
- S. nymphellula Desvaux
- S. sprucei Kuhn
Evolutionary history
The geography of Salvinia fossil material suggests members of the genus may have been broadly distributed during the Tertiary.[7][8]
Distribution
Distribution is mostly tropical, in
Economic impacts
Giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) is a commonly introduced invasive weed in warm climates, but is native to South America. It grows rapidly, up to two times its dry weight in 2-1/2 days, and forms dense mats over still waters. A tiny weevil, Cyrtobagous salviniae, has been used successfully to biologically control giant salvinia.[9]
One proposed use takes advantage of the hydrophobic trichomes, which do not repel oil. This makes them candidates for mopping up oil spills, as they become saturated with oil in thirty seconds. S. molesta trichomes served as a model for a similarly hydrophobic synthetic polycarbonate.[10]
Salvinia effect
The
References
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Salvinia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ Pl. Veron. 3: 52. 1754.
- ^ J. G. Croxdale 1978, 1979, 1981.
- PMID 29967517.
- PMID 36092417.
- ^ "Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL". FTOL v1.4.0 [GenBank release 253]. 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
- .
- doi:10.26879/906.
- ^ Ward, Colin (2013-09-05). "Salvinia biocontrol". CSIROpedia. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
- ^ Coxworth, Ben (August 24, 2016). "Oil spill clean-up material functions like a fern". newatlas.com. Retrieved 2016-08-25.