Dwarf four-leaf clover
Marsilea hirsuta
Also known asWater clover · Four-leaf clover plant · Clover fern
Water parameters
Light and nutrients
Substrate type: nutrient preferred. Propagation: runners.
Substrate compatibility
| Substrate | pH effect | Nutrient load |
|---|---|---|
| Aquasoil (ADA Amazonia) | lowers pH | very high |
| Mineralized clay substrate (Seachem Fluorite) | neutral / inert | moderate |
| Dirted tank (mineralized topsoil) (DIY soil substrate) | slightly acidic | very high |
| Inert sand (Pool filter sand) | neutral / inert | none |
With fish
Origin and habitat
An aquatic fern of the family Marsileaceae, Marsilea hirsuta, native to Australia, in floodplains, swamps, temporary pools and wet meadows. Described by Robert Brown in 1810, it is one of the water-clover ferns, named for the four clover-like lobes of its emersed leaves. It grows from a creeping rhizome, sending up small leaves on thin petioles; the emersed form makes the classic four-lobed clover leaf, while submersed in the aquarium the leaves are smaller and usually single- or two-lobed, forming a low carpet. The change from clover-like emersed to simplified submersed growth takes a few weeks after planting. Marsilea is one of the few fern genera used as a foreground carpet; several species are traded (M. hirsuta, M. crenata, M. drummondii), hard to tell apart without spores, with M. hirsuta the most common.
Care notes
An undemanding carpet that gives a low clover-like or grassy foreground, with the look set largely by light. Under moderate to strong light the submersed leaves stay short and single-lobed, hugging the substrate in a tight carpet, while in low light it grows taller, 3–6 cm, with larger clover leaves. CO2 is not needed but roughly doubles or triples the growth rate. Plant small portions from tissue culture two to three centimetres apart, pressing the rhizome into a fine, nutrient-rich substrate at least a couple of centimetres deep, and feed at the roots with tabs. It spreads by runners and rhizome division. Compared with HC Cuba or dwarf hairgrass it is easier and far more forgiving of low light and no CO2, the trade-off being slower carpeting and a slightly looser mat; expect six to twelve weeks to fill in. It tolerates cooler water given its Australian origin. Trim above the rhizome to keep it low. A practical carpet for medium-tech tanks without the demands of HC. It is an ornamental carpet, not a crop, so it is unsuited to media-bed aquaponics or hydroponics.