Gratuitous Unusual Plant Pics - 56K Warning

[travis simonson]

Well I spent several hours on the phone with czcz (aka Joe) last night talking about all of the rare plants we would like to get our hands on and trading info on those we do have. I was amazed at the variety and diversity of his collection so I thought I would start a thread with some photos of some of my new plants in hopes that Joe (and anyone else with photos to share) would post pics of his wild collection. I just love looking at interesting, rare, unusual, hard-to-find, oddball plants. Post 'em if you got 'em :P

I'm not sure if this is a hard-to-find plant but it's the first time I've come across it. The bright green feathery-leaved plant in the center of the picture is Myriophyllum hippuroides and is one of the best background plants (even for large/deep tanks) I have ever found. It grows like mad, gets very bushy, and is completely undemanding.



This is Mayaca sellowiana, a great mid-ground accent plant. It has some of the finest leaves I have ever seen and looks absolutely great until it has spent a week or so under the tender mercies of my African cichlids, at which time it generally begins to resemble a wet cat :P



A very recent addition to my tank and a plant that I have absolutely no experience with: Lagenandra thwaetesii (say that five times fast :P ). It has a vague resemblance to the Cryptocoryne genus and supposedly prefers similar conditions. L. thwaetesii is one of the few species of Lagenandra that will grow submersed. I'm anxious to see where this plants goes.



Hottonia palustris, one of my favorite plants. Under good lighting it grows in a very compact and bushy manner. The color is brilliant against a dark background. This is a fairly easy to care for plant that grows quickly once established. The pink plant to the right of it is Rotala macrandra "Variegated" which should have bright pink leaves with white veination when it begins to put out submersed growth. Should be cool looking



The small, light-green, needle-leaved plant in the center of this pic is Bacopa myriophylloides, a type of Bacopa that is fairly new to the hobby. I love the way it stands out against the darker Pogostemon stellata "Broad-leaf" behind it. This is another new addition that I have very little experience with but hope to propagate



The red plant in the foreground is Myriophyllum tuberculatum "Red" which I think makes a great contrast with its cousin Myriophyllum matogrossense "Green" in the background. Both of these plants push the most-syllables-in-a-name barrier and come from the rivers of Brazil's Mato Grosso region. They are light-loving plants with extremely fine, branching leaf structure, but are surprisingly hardy and tolerate a wide range of water conditions.




OK, I'm finally done. Hope you enjoyed the pics and looking forward to seeing yours

[BrianNY]

Looking great Travis. Unfortunately any of the oddball plants in my collection are the result of you. Perhaps I'll stop by lowcoasters this month and see if he has anything unusual.

[travis simonson]

Thanks Brian. You're so lucky to live near Charley (aka lowcoaster). Most of the plants in the pics above came from him. As a shameless plug, if anyone is interested they can get on Charley's plant mailing list by sending him an email at beadgc@nyc.rr.com. He is awesome about getting special orders for any of the plants he doesn't have. And he doesn't charge an arm and a leg for shipping and is willing to send out orders for just a few plants. My favorite place to go for plants

[sudz]

Travis. I can only dream of having a tank as lucious as yours! Whats your secret? Is it hard to keep clean? or do the plants do most of the "dirty" work on their own?

whats your carpet plant? would it grow in 2.2 [acronym:4b93cfe477="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:4b93cfe477]?

[travis simonson]

Thanks sudz I'm not sure I have any secrets to keeping plants. I just try to maintain stable, consistent nutrient levels. Good test kits really help. My African cichlids oblige me and do a great deal of the fertilization themselves :P

The carpet plant in the pic in my signature is Elatine triandra, which should grow really well under 2.2 [acronym:7ce7e98a39="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:7ce7e98a39] and doesn't (from what I hear) even require [acronym:7ce7e98a39="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:7ce7e98a39]. I have since removed it because it just grew too fast and was a real pain to keep up with. Right now I'm working on growing a Downoi (Pogostemon helferi) foreground. I've never seen anyone do it before so I'm really just trying it to see if it can be done. I'll post some pics if it works

[czcz]

Wow. Bacopa myriophylloides and Lagenandra thwaetesii look especially neat. Pearling Myriophyllum sp. pic is just ridiculous.

Got the new ones today. It will be a minute for pics. Here is a pic of Phyllanthus fluitans aka "Red root floater" from a few days ago in the meantime. Easy to grow: little flowers are cool after total failure with Ludwigia sedoides:


Brian, post pics of your stuff after it adapts to your tank please. I am very interested in Downoi and P. stellata growth especially

Joe

[czcz]

This is the little grouping I told Travis I liked a lot. The downoi creeped around on its own and does not seem to mind being shaded by P. stellata "broad leaf." I topped A. reineckii and P. stellata "broad leaf" to the same height and let them race by the way, and considering reputation its interesting that the latter won.


From the top


Here is what it used to look like. I am going to split up downoi as he recommended and use it as a mid ground right behind ET I think.


Tonina sp. "belem." This plant is said to demand soft water and acidic substrate. Old growth has turned transparent but new growth has not, at least. I am considering putting peat plates under it or placing it into pots with a peat layer.


P. stellata "narrow leaf." These are my last three stems and am passing on stunted stems in hopes someone propogates it better than I have. I really love this plant: I first got it in May or so and it was the plant that made me learn something about nutrients and such. If these guys stunt I am done with it until I get a bigger tank.


The new ones. Please correct me if I am wrong with IDs. I will take pics after they recover from shipping and grow:

Junus repens. Tough to plant.


Rotala ramosior, a native plant that I believe was collected emersed. It arrived curled unto itself and hope it straightens out ok.


Rotala rotundifolia (indica?) 'colorata'? Travis is growing stuff much more colorful but I do not know if this is emersed growth, but it appears to be the closest match to sent plant list.


Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba'


Ludwigia repens 'Rubin' -- From what I have been told, in many ways I can treat this as regular repens, and so will propogate it because it is too big for my tank as is


Polygonum hydropiperoides


Also got some sweet emersed growth I have to squeeze into paludarium project logged on this site, and will update that thread later.

sudz,
If you do not mind propogating a small portion, I am almost ready to share ET. I have some living in a med light/ambient sunlit tank with [acronym:6b5fc512f7="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:6b5fc512f7] and I think it will grow with your light too. PM me.

[BrianNY]

awesome pics Joe. Both you and Travis are as good with a camera as you are with plants. I'll post some pics of the downoi and P stellata in about a week.

[Jchillin]

Just figured I'd drop another shameless plug for charley (aka lowcoaster). I've been to his home and his fish room should be renamed "aquatic garden room". The man is absolutely ingenious. I promised I would never reveal his secrets but he can grow anything in his tanks.

Travis...I had no idea you knew him. I will certainly bring you up when I speak to him next. He also happens to be a member of the GCAS.

[travis simonson]

Now those are some unusual plants. It will be interesting to see how the all turn out, whether their foliage changes considerably as they grow. And your Tonina is looking very good, much better than the plants that you sent me are faring. Hopefully mine will come around because yours looks so cool