Marsilea minuta L.

Rhizomes creeping, with internodes up to 6.5 cm, but internodes frequently much shorter and fronds then appearing tufted; roots arising both at nodes and 1 or 2 on internodes, short shoots of 1-3 mm frequently formed at nodes; longer shoots sparsely pubescent to glabrate, short shoots often densely pubescent with pale reddish brown hairs ca. 1 mm. Stipes green to straw-colored, 6-16 cm, slender, glabrate; pinnae obtriangular to fan-shaped, 0.5-1.9 × 0.4-1.5 cm, glabrate adaxially, sparsely appressed-pubescent to glabrate abaxially, margin entire, bilobed, or crenate. Sporocarps 1 or 2 per frond, attached at base of stipe where stipe joins rhizome or up to 5 mm up stipe, often persistent after frond decay and appearing to arise directly from rhizome; peduncle 2.8-9.3 mm (when 2 sporocarps on a frond occasionally joined by a common peduncle ca. 1 mm), plus an additional 1.3-2.2 mm adnate to sporocarp, sparsely pubescent to glabrate; sporocarp brown to black, elliptical in lateral view, 2-4.9 × 1.8-3.9 × 1.2-2.5 mm, soft leathery, convex on lateral sides, obtuse to rounded on perimeter, usually marked with a distinct tooth 0.1-0.5 mm above end of peduncle, densely appressed-pubescent when young, becoming thinly pubescent to glabrate with age.

A tropical plant. It grows in swamps and stagnant pools. It is rare in Swaziland. In Bangladesh it grows in ditches and rice paddies. It grows in wetlands. In southern China it grows in rice fields and in ditches between 100-1,400 m above sea level.

The very tender stalks and leaves are used as a pot herb. They are cooked and eaten. They are also fried.

Can be grown by seedlings.