Duckweed fern

Azolla filiculoides (water fern) is a species of aquatic fern. It is native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Americas, and has been introduced to Europe, North and sub-Saharan Africa, China, Japan, New Zealand, the Caribbean, and Hawaii. It is a floating aquatic fern with very fast growth, capable of spreading over the surfaces of lakes to give complete coverage of the water in only a few months. Each individual plant is 1–2 cm across, green tinged pink, orange, or red at the edges, branching freely, and breaking into smaller sections as it grows. It is not tolerant of cold temperatures; in temperate regions it largely dies back in winter, surviving by means of submerged buds. It harbors the diazotrophic organism Anabaena azollae in specialized leaf pockets. This ancient symbiosis allows A. azollae to fix nitrogen from the air and contribute to the fern's metabolism. Fossil records from as recent as the last interglacials are known from several locations in Europe (Hyde et al. 1978). 50 million years ago, a species similar to A. filiculoides may have played a pivotal role in cooling the planet in what is known as the Azolla event. A. filiculoides was one of the first two fern species with a reference genome published.