Mini Pellia (10x smaller than Pellia)!!

[TheTeh]

See photos here: http://www.theteh.com/html/mini_pell...nium_sp__.html

I bought a small clumps of Mini Pellia (?) from Malaysia (Jan 2007). Not sure of the scientific ID of this plant but I was told it belongs to the Monosolenium species. Please let me know if you know the true ID of this plant!

Unfortunately, 90% of the plant died during postage (1 week journey). But I tied the remaining 10% of fragments onto two pieces of stones in the hope that they will survive. Luckly they survived! However, they are so slow growing that, after nearly 5 months, they are finally large enough for me to take some photographs for this ‘mini’ article!

[rain-]

Mini Pellia is said to be a Riccardia species. And btw, you have Süsswassertang in the photos with Mini Pellia, not Monosolenium tenerum.

Yours looks a bit different than mine, so it might be some other species or then they just grow a bit differently in different tanks. Killies.com is a good place to ask for a species ID if you want to.

Oh, and I forgot to add, it really is a cool plant, reminds me of emersed Riccia. Well, Riccardia and Riccia, not a big surprise that they look alike.

[TheTeh]

Hi rain-, you have a good eye and right about the Susswassertang!! I was given this by a friend who said it was Susswassertang. I was a bit suspicious and just think it is a variation of Monosolenium tenerum... will correct this later tonight.

Thanks for the ID analysis.

[rain-]

Good to be able to help. The best way to tell them apart is the middle vein, "pellia" has one, Süsswassertang doesn't.

[TheTeh]

Does Susswassertang have a scientific name?

[rain-]

Some German botanists have done DNA-mapping and found out a possible species, but there's no more information since they aren't 100% sure and that's why they aren't sharing their results now. I'm sure it will be revealed in the future if they are able to confirm it some way.

Now all we know is that it's a fern gametophyte, not a moss or a liverwort.

[TheTeh]

Just posted some more macro photos of the mini pellia with closeup of a single frond. There is no veins within the fronds like the Süsswassertang unlike Monosolenium as rain- pointed out.

Someone on another forum suggested that the scientific name is Riccardia chamedryfolia.

http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/P5/P50904.php

[rain-]

Nice close-ups. I'll try taking some of mine tomorrow so we can compare them and see if we have the same thing or not.

Mine seem to grow a bit more ball like and not as layered as yours, but it could be because of several different reasons and not because we have different species. This is one of my favorites now, flame moss is another one that I like, but this one is so tiny and elegant that it might even beat flame moss when I have managed to grow large enough patch of it.

[Wasserpest]

I got two tiny balls of Mini Pellia from Buckeye Robert and they look a bit different, I think even smaller. I lost one of the "balls" and the other hasn't grown in a few months but it is a lovely plant for that pico tank