Côtes d’Armor: A Strange Red Cloth Covering a Pond

INVASION This is actually a very invasive tropical plant …

From a distance, you might think that this is a nice field of small flowers roses. But it is not. At St. Julien, near Saint-Brieuc in Cotes d’Armor, the surface of a pond is completely covered with a red and green tablecloth, the result of the invasion of a tropical plant, reports West France  on Friday.

A floating cover to block the plant

This invasive plant is the ” Azolla Filiculoïde  ” native to South America, an aquatic fern that can multiply our side of the Atlantic. Green at first, this little plant can go through orange, pink, as here, even the red end of the hot season.

Azolla Filiculoïde certainly is not toxic, but its presence can lead to serious consequences: it can potentially kill all aquatic life in a water body if it manages to cover it completely. Enough to arouse the concern of the fishermen and the authorities, who fear a possible spread to neighbouring waterways, or worse, to the drinking water supply of St. Bartholomew, located not far from there. As a preventive measure, a floating cover was installed over the pond to prevent progression of the plant . What have some days of rest before a scheduled meeting in May, during which will be discussed various alternatives to remove this undesirable plant this private pond.

The other question is how this exotic plant could multiply on this lake in the heart of Brittany. The newspaper said it could be a single seed deposited by a bird, but it could also be the work of a dishonest inhabitant of the region, which could have drained a freshwater aquarium in the pond.