''Salvinia auriculata'' is a species of plant in the Salviniaceae known by the common names eared watermoss,''Salvinia auriculata''.
USDA Plants Profile. African payal (

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

: ആഫ്രിക്കൻ പായൽ), and butterfly fern. It is native to the Americas from Mexico south to Argentina and Chile. It is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

and it has become

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in the wild in some places. This species is hard to distinguish from other '' Salvinia''.''Salvinia auriculata''.
California Department of Food & Agriculture. The plant varies in size depending on how crowded it is among other plants.Coelho, F. F., et al. (2000)
Density-dependent morphological plasticity in ''Salvinia auriculata'' Aublet.
''Aquatic Botany'' 66(4) 273-80. This plant has long been known as an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. It had infested the Zambezi River by 1949.Hattingh, E. R. (1961)
Problem of ''Salvinia auriculata'' Aubl. and associated aquatic weeds on Kariba Lake.
''Weed Research'' 1(4) 303-06. It is also considered invasive in

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Gallery

File:Algal_Bloom_-_പായൽ_04.JPG File:Algal_Bloom_-_പായൽ_05.JPG File:Algal_Bloom_-_പായൽ_06.JPG File:Salvinia auriculata 3.jpg File:Salvinia auriculata 2.jpg File:Salvinia auriculata 4.jpg File:Salvinia auriculata 6.jpg

References

Salviniales {{Polypodiidae-stub