''Riccia fluitans'', the floating crystalwort, is an aquatic floating plant of the

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ...

genus ''

Riccia ''Riccia'' is a genus of liverworts in the order Marchantiales. These plants are small and thalloid, that is not differentiated into root, stem and leaf. Depending on species, the thallus may be strap-shaped and about 0.5 to 4 mm wide with ...

'' which is popular among aquarists as a retreat for young fry and is used in live-bearing tanks. It can be found floating in ponds, and often forms thick mats on and under the water surface. It normally grows quickly at the surface. When kept about two to three inches below an ordinary fluorescent bulb or in a pond exposed to full sunlight, it will form dense, bright green mats. Any single branch or antler bud can reproduce into a large colony if the plant is kept in proper conditions. It normally floats, but can also be attached to underwater objects such as logs and rocks. It can be attached with plastic mesh. Floating crystalwort is generally not compatible with

duckweeds Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose f ...

, as they cover the surface of the water quite rapidly, crowding the ''Riccia'' out. It is also easily overtaken by hair

alga Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

e. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''fluitans'' is Latin for floating.Archibald William Smith

References

External links

* Care information for Riccia Fluitans
AquaHobby

* Ricciaceae {{Bryophyte-stub