Azolla pinnata is a species of fern known by several common names, including feathered mosquitofern and water velvet. It is native to much of Africa, Asia from China to Japan, India, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines, and parts of Australia. It is an aquatic plant, its frond floating upon the surface of the water. It grows in quiet and slow-moving water bodies, because swift currents and waves break up the plant. The plant reproduces vegetatively when branches break off the main axis, or sexually when sporocarps on the leaves release spores.