If you enjoy planted aquariums, you may have crossed paths with a peculiar little plant called Süßwassertang. It can be propagated by breaking off tiny pieces, which eventually grow into a tangled carpet of tiny green thalli. One could be excused for thinking that Süßwassertang was some sort of liverwort and indeed, for quite some time was marketed as such. That all changed in 2009 when it was revealed that this was not a liverwort at all but rather the gametophyte of a fern.

Despite its German name, Süßwassertang appears to have originated in tropical parts of Africa and Asia. It is surprisingly hard to find out any information about this plant outside of its use in the aquarium trade. The name Süßwassertang translates to “freshwater seaweed” and indeed, that is exactly what it looks like. The fact that this is actually the gametophyte of a fern may seem startling at first but when you consider what they must deal with in nature, the situation makes a bit more sense.