Common Water Clover vs gorilla

Marsilea quadrifolia compared with Gorilla gorilla

Key Differences

Common Water Clover is Not Evaluated while gorilla is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Water Clover	gorilla
Kingdom	Plantae (نباتات)	Animalia (حيوانات)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (حبليات)
Class	Polypodiopsida (سراخس رقيقة المباغ)	Mammalia (ثدييات)
Order	Salviniales (سلوينيات)	Primates (رئيسيات)
Family	Marsileaceae	Hominidae (Great Apes)
Genus	Marsilea	Gorilla (Gorillas)
Species	Marsilea quadrifolia	Gorilla gorilla

Conservation Status

Common Water Clover

NE — Not Evaluated

gorilla

CR — Critically Endangered

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Water Clover	gorilla
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	40 years
Average Length	—	1.7 m
Average Weight	—	160.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Water Clover

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (India, Vietnam), Europe (5 countries), and North America (Canada, United States).

gorilla

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 4 distinct biome types within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Cameroon, Congo (Republic), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Common Water Clover

<em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em>, commonly known as the common water clover or European waterclover, is an aquatic fern in the family Marsileaceae. Its conservation status is listed as Not Evaluated by the IUCN. The species has a broad native distribution spanning Asia and Europe, and has been introduced to North America, where it now occurs in scattered freshwater habitats. It typically grows in shallow ponds, rice paddies, slow-moving streams, and muddy lake margins, rooting in soft sediments while its four-leaflet fronds float on or emerge above the water surface. The distinctive four-lobed leaves strongly resemble a four-leaf clover, lending the plant its common name. <em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em> is a heterosporous fern, producing specialized reproductive structures called sporocarps that contain both megaspores and microspores, allowing reproduction under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth. The plant is remarkably drought-tolerant, as sporocarps can remain viable for decades. It typically spreads through both vegetative rhizome growth and spore dispersal. Biological traits including average lifespan, height, and mass remain poorly documented in standardized databases. The species plays a role in shallow aquatic ecosystems as a colonizing plant, stabilizing soft substrates and providing microhabitat for invertebrates and small vertebrates in the temperate freshwater zones it inhabits.

gorilla

The world's largest primate, western gorillas weigh up to 180 kg and inhabit the tropical and subtropical forests of equatorial Africa. Primarily herbivorous, living in family groups led by a silverback male who protects the troop and mediates social conflicts. Critically Endangered, with populations threatened by deforestation, poaching for bushmeat, and outbreaks of Ebola virus disease.