The Four Leaf Water Clover (Marsilea Quadrifolia L.) an Endangered Species. Aspects of Conservation and Management

The European species of the genus Marsilea are presented, with special regard to Four leaf water clover Marsilea quadrifolia L., the single species occurring in Central Europe. Based on field research on the Upper Rhine in Germany and the Lower Danube in Romania the ecological requirements of the species and the plant communities in which the species lives are analysed and compared with data from other European countries. Due to the decline of the species populations as a consequence of human activities, all European Marsilea species are rare, vulnerable, endangered by extinction or extinct in the wild and included in the Red data books of most European countries. Also all the European water clovers Marsilea strigosa, Marsilea batardae and Marsilea quadrifolia have been included in the Appendix I of the Bern Convention (1979) as strictly protected species and in the Annexe II of the European Flora Fauna Habitat Directive 92/43/1992. After analysis of ecological conditions, the state of conservation and the Red List categories of Marsilea quadrifolia following IUCN criteria in the countries of occurrence are presented and possible measures for conservation are discussed as well as realised reintroduction of the species in the wild