Floating Fern vs Globe Thistle

Salvinia natans compared with Echinops exaltatus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Floating Fern	Globe Thistle
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Salviniales (Salviniales)	Afrosoricida (Afrosoricida)
Family	Salviniaceae	Tenrecidae
Genus	Salvinia	Echinops
Species	Salvinia natans	Echinops exaltatus

Conservation Status

Floating Fern

NE — Not Evaluated

Globe Thistle

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Floating Fern	Globe Thistle
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Floating Fern

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (4 countries), Europe (9 countries), North America (Honduras), and Oceania and the Pacific (Australia).

Globe Thistle

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Found across Europe (13 countries) and North America (Canada, United States).

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 7 countries:

🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇫🇷 France 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇬🇧 United Kingdom