[dave pauls]

What's this plant?
I found a plant the other day. I'm in South Western Ontario, Canada, at the base of the Bruce peninsula... I found this plant in a shallow "pond". The pond was round, about three meters (10') across and only had maybe 20cm (8") of water at its deepest point. It is spring fed with a clay substrate and is a permanent body of water despite its tiny size. The location is several km from the closest road, or house, but there is a small lake with some cottages on it a couple hundred meters down the hill. There are no fish and this was the only plant. It was carpeting about 2/3 of the substrate. The majority was submerged and a rich purple colour. In some places it was breaching the surface and the emersed growth was dark green. I brought a few stems home, washed and thoroughly inspected them then stuck them in one of my tanks. They have only been in there for three or four days but are growing like crazy. All the new growth is coming in green with faint purple tips. Each leaf is around an inch long to give it some perspective. I thought it was maybe a bacopa species because of the leaf shape and the thick stem. I can't seem to find pictures of anything that matches it though. Any ideas?

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[HybridHerp]

Regular cardinal plant? I honestly have no idea, kinda looks like a giant green Ammania species to me.

 

[dave pauls]

Right on, ya it doesn't really match that... And it's growing in Canada?... I guess I will give it some time and see if it makes it long term in the aquarium. It is pearling like crazy right now and with its 1/8"+ stems and large purple tipped leaves, it really contrast everything else I have growing. I have it in a tank with around three watts per gallon of light and lots of co2. I would love some more guesses... Maybe a pond forum would have a guess? Seeing as it just survived the hardest winter we have had in years, I would have to say its pretty cold hardy. I could go back and try to get a picture of the emersed leaves if that would help.


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[Mizuhuman]

whatever it is, it looks awesome

 

[Tinanti]

Veronica anagallis-aquatica

 

[Krispyplants]

It doesn't really look like any bacopa as bacopa has rounder leaves. It's more like some kinda hygrophila species. In small streams or creek the amount of nutrients that the plant receive, depends on what is located along the hills of the stream. If the land has any significant source for example if the dirt is iron rich then a lot if iron will be distributed along the stream as to when it rains, all that nutrient will drip down to the stream. You can be a new founder of a new species of aquatic plant that can be distributed internationally but your plant has to be proven able to grow submersed. Dude if that plant can survive under water for 2-3 months then I would go to the same exact stream and search along the water for more plants. Even the plants growing along side the stream can be aquatic. Aquatic plants are very limited til this day. Topping out around 350-400 species only it wouldn't hurt to discover new plants. You won't make millions but will be known for bringing it out here :red_mouth You should go on another forest trip before summer fades away. Keep in mind that I found some kind of pennywort at my local river in nc usa and it was located above water. Almost if not all aquatic plants are naturally made to thrive above water. They just seems to find an escape route for pesticides as under water there are rarely none that will harm plants in small streams. My pennywort that I found was suppose to be located only in Asia but somehow ended up in the backyards of NC USA. Maybe its some "new" kind of species that these stooped aquatic plant specialists never knew about ehe

 

[Tinanti]

It doesn't really look like any bacopa as bacopa has rounder leaves. It's more like some kinda hygrophila species. In small streams or creek the amount of nutrients that the plant receive, depends on what is located along the hills of the stream. If the land has any significant source for example if the dirt is iron rich then a lot if iron will be distributed along the stream as to when it rains, all that nutrient will drip down to the stream. You can be a new founder of a new species of aquatic plant that can be distributed internationally but your plant has to be proven able to grow submersed. Dude if that plant can survive under water for 2-3 months then I would go to the same exact stream and search along the water for more plants. Even the plants growing along side the stream can be aquatic. Aquatic plants are very limited til this day. Topping out around 350-400 species only it wouldn't hurt to discover new plants. You won't make millions but will be known for bringing it out here :red_mouth You should go on another forest trip before summer fades away. Keep in mind that I found some kind of pennywort at my local river in nc usa and it was located above water. Almost if not all aquatic plants are naturally made to thrive above water. They just seems to find an escape route for pesticides as under water there are rarely none that will harm plants in small streams. My pennywort that I found was suppose to be located only in Asia but somehow ended up in the backyards of NC USA. Maybe its some "new" kind of species that these stooped aquatic plant specialists never knew about ehe

Veronica anagallis-aquatica

 

[ua hua]

Veronica anagallis-aquatica

Veronica anagallis-aquatica

One more time for good measure Tinanti.

 

[dave pauls]

Yep. Veronica anagallis aquatica looks pretty much exactly right. Thanks for the id Tinanti! Is this plant used in aquariums? It seems to be doing quite well and is very attractive.


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[Tinanti]

Yep. Veronica anagallis aquatica looks pretty much exactly right. Thanks for the id Tinanti! Is this plant used in aquariums? It seems to be doing quite well and is very attractive.


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Not often used, but it does pretty well. Most would probably say too well. Your call I guess.

 

[dave pauls]

What do you mean by too well? It's not going to send runners all over my tank or something is it? I'm planing on giving it a bit of a go. It looks nice so far....


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[Tinanti]

It just grows REALLY fast.

 

[dave pauls]

Yes it does.... An inch a day... Maybe more. I cut off all the old growth today and replanted it. It seems to be holding up just fine. Not much purple though... Just a large interesting leaf of a thick stem. I like it. Here it is in the tank.. Which is a dozen prunings and a lot of growing from being done....

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[Steve001]

There's plenty of information out there. From what I've read, this plant will tolerate submersion for a while. It's really a bog type plant and it will grow above the water level in your tank.

Cultivation: The preference is full to partial sun, wet to consistently moist conditions, and soil that is muddy or sandy-gravelly. Shallow running water and occasional submersion from flooding is tolerated. Depending on stage of development and growing conditions, the size of individual plants is rather variable.

Video

 

[Tinanti]

It's perfectly fine growing submerged indefinitely.

Found some myself yesterday.

 

[Steve001]

It's perfectly fine growing submerged indefinitely.

Found some myself yesterday.

How do you know?

 

[Tinanti]

Because I've grown it. Actually grew some ten years ago when Tom sent me some and kept it going quite a while. Certainly longer than "tolerating temporary submersion".

 

[dave pauls]

I was wondering if temperature might be a factor? I have the tank around 75f but it was collected from a tiny permanent pond with a spring in the middle of it. I also found more today growing in full shade but also in a spring fed creek. The water temp is very cold full time.


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[Tinanti]

Maybe, maybe not. Some cool water species do fine in warmer temps and some do not (many cool water plants can't use co2 in warm water). It can also depend on where it was collected, same species or not. Wait and see.

 

[Steve001]

Because I've grown it. Actually grew some ten years ago when Tom sent me some and kept it going quite a while. Certainly longer than "tolerating temporary submersion".

I see. Did you find it grew to and above the water surface or did you replant it before it could?