[shrimpology]

Hello All!

A few months ago I bought a plant from Petco which I thought was Bacopa monnieri. However, having kept Bacopa monnieri before I noticed right away that the leaves of this plant were way too long and differently shaped than the small leaves of B. monnieri. It does look like some kind of Bacopa, though, and it grows exactly like Bacopa monnieri. The leaves are pretty thick and sturdy and "fleshy", similar to the various Bacopas (although the leaves of this mystery plant seem to a tiny little bit thinner). Now the biggest leaves are almost 2 inches long, although they are smaller when bought from Petco.

I have included pictures below in case someone can help me identify this plant. I have been searching all over the internet for pictures of a similar plant, but could not find anything. I have been growing this plant emersed for about 2-3 months now (I've been using MiracleGro for the last month and the plant really took off) and the pictures below are of the emersed growth. However, the submersed growth looks pretty much the same. The leaves anbd stem are actually bigger emersed, but I attribute that to the MiracleGro. It is always available at Petco, so I doubt it's some rare plant. Could it be some kind of artificially crated/bred variety of Bacopa monnieri? Any ideas? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[ferrarikid]

I have no clue what that is but I have about 5-7 stems of it from PetCo too!

 

[bigstick120]

Looks like Bacopa monnieri to me. Have you been able to flower it?

 

[yoink]

My Bacopa monnieri doesn't have jagged leaf edges like that, perfectly smooth.

 

[shrimpology]

My Bacopa monnieri doesn't have jagged leaf edges like that, perfectly smooth.

Exactly. I've had Bacopa monnieri before and can confirm this statement. Plus, all the pictures of B. monnieri you can ever find on the internet also show plants with small smooth edged leaves. Also, B. monnieri develops fleshier and *smaller* leaves when grown emersed. My mystery plant on the other hand has two inch long leaves. Unless someone has some inside info on aquarium cultivars of B. monnieri that look totally different from the "wild" B. monnieri, this plant is probably no B. monnieri.

And no, it has not flowered for me yet, but it has only picked up growth during the last month or so. It should flower soon.

Ferrarikid, did your Petco tell you under what name they are selling this plant? My Petco had no clue and it was just sold as "bunched stem plants."

Anyone else has an idea? Where are all these "experts" when you need them? LOL This "mystery" plant has been around for years so someone should know, right?

 

[TheOtherGeoff]

maybe money wort? it has a semi jagged edge doesnt it....

 

[shrimpology]

Moneywort is the common name for Bacopa monnieri in the aqurium hobby. All the other plants (outside hobby) called moneywort don't look anything like this plant. Anyone else have any other ideas? :icon_ques

 

[JenThePlantGeek]

Any pictures of the submerged growth?

The jagged edges make me think of Limnophila aromatica or Proserpinaca palustrus, but I doubt those are it.

 

[shrimpology]

Any pictures of the submerged growth?

The jagged edges make me think of Limnophila aromatica or Proserpinaca palustrus, but I doubt those are it.

It's definitely none of the above. L. aromatica has different emersed and submersed growth, whereas my plant just about looks the same. Plus, the leaf shape of L. aromatica when grown emersed is different and it has lots of little "hairs" on its stem and leaves. P. palustris looks totally different altogether.

I don't have pictures of submersed growth right now, but I can tell you that it looks just about the same emersed or submersed. The leaves are not as jagged in real life as it might appear on the close-up pictures. Also, the "jags" are barely noticable on many of the leaves. I just took close-ups of the ones that displayed this feature. If you look carefully in the pictures above, you can see that lots of leaves are almost smooth-edged.

What makes this plant different from B. monnieri are not necessarily the jagged leaf edges but the leaf shape. B. monnieri leaves are usually oval and small (and thick and fleshy and even smaller when grown submersed) whereas the leaves of this plant are elongated and pretty long. Plus it grows just about the same emersed and submersed.

Any more ideas?

 

[shrimpology]

Alright...here are some pictures of Bacopa monnieri with somewhat jagged leaf edges and angular leaves:

Source: Bacopa monnieri -- Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

Notice, in the second picture, how small the leaves are next to the hand. Nowhere near the two inches that my plant's leaves get to be.

Here is another picture of a bacopa monnieri with a hand and fingers for comparison:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/View?u=4001548&a=30445124&p=63497555&Sequence=0&res=high

Here is a closeup of a B. monnieri that shows how thick and fleshy the leaves can get when grown emersed:

Here another closeup of the flower and leaves:

And here the whole growth:

Sourse for the three pics above: Hawaiian Native Plants, UH Botany


Finally, here another picture of my mystery plant with my hand right next to it holding it:

You can see that it looks nothing like the Bacopa monnieri in the above pictures. The mystery plant's leaves are still fleshy, but not as thick and fleshy as the B. monnieri leaves. And the leaves are much longer of course.

Hope this helps with the identification. In case nobody has an answer here, where would be the best place to send these pictures for identification? Is there any scientific institution (i.e. botanists) that you know of that could help me out?

 

[mrbelvedere]

If no one here can ID it, I'm sure Cavan Allen at APC can.

 

[shrimpology]

If no one here can ID it, I'm sure Cavan Allen at APC can.

Tried him, too. His best guess so far has been Bacopa monnieri. He *might* be right *if* my plant is some kind of artificial cultivar of B. monnieri, but as you can tell from the pictures above, my plant is very different (though still similar in a way) from the "normal" B. monnieri commonly seen. That's why I highly doubt that ID.

He did ask if my plant has flowered yet, and I am sure that he and others might be better able to help me once I present pictures of flowers. But I had hoped that someone could ID the plant by its general shape and shape/size of leaves.

 

[fresh_lynny]

I think it may be Limnophila aromatica immersed growth. I know it is fleshy like bacopa, but the jagged edges are making me think it isn't.
Grow it submerged for a bit and see if it transforms. We are all interested in seeing what it turns into.

 

[shrimpology]

I've grown it submersed first. It looks the same. I explained above why I don't think it's L. aromatica. Except for the jagged leaf edges, the two plants don't even look similar to the trained eye. For one..my plant does not have "hairy" growth all over. For more...please read above.

 

[Daniel*Swords]

How about Bacopa crenata?
Pic 1, pic 2

 

[hooha]

That looks pretty close... any submersed pics?