Common Water Clover vs Lion

Marsilea quadrifolia compared with Panthera leo

Key Differences

Common Water Clover is Not Evaluated while Lion is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Water Clover	Lion
Kingdom	Plantae (식물)	Animalia (동물)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (척삭동물)
Class	Polypodiopsida (고사리강)	Mammalia (포유류)
Order	Salviniales (생이가래목)	Carnivora (식육목)
Family	Marsileaceae	Felidae (Cats)
Genus	Marsilea	Panthera (Big Cats)
Species	Marsilea quadrifolia	Panthera leo

Conservation Status

Common Water Clover

NE — Not Evaluated

Lion

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~23.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Water Clover	Lion
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	15 years
Average Length	—	2.5 m
Average Weight	—	190.0 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).

Lion

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 7 distinct biome types spanning the Afrotropic and Neotropic and Oceanian realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, and Kenya. Currently classified as Vulnerable 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.

Lion

아프리카 최대의 야생 고양이과 동물로 최대 250kg에 달하며, 사하라 사막 이남의 사바나와 초원에서 무리 생활을 하는 유일한 사회성 고양이과 동물입니다. 수컷은 상징적인 갈기로 구별됩니다. 최상위 포식자로서 초식동물 개체군을 조절하고 생태계 균형을 유지합니다. 서식지 손실과 인간-야생동물 충돌로 인해 취약 등급으로 분류됩니다.