Salvinia minima

A tiny free-floating aquatic fern that spreads across still water surfaces in overlapping rosettes of velvety, oval leaves — each leaf just 1–1.5 cm across and covered in fine water-repelling hairs that cause droplets to bead off. Native to slow backwaters and swamps from Mexico to southern South America, it grows with remarkable speed: a small colony can carpet an entire pond surface in days under warm, bright conditions. In paludariums it excels in the water section, providing cover for aquatic fauna, exporting excess nutrients, and creating a lush, naturalistic surface. It requires no substrate, absorbing everything directly from the water column, and propagates endlessly through natural rhizome division.