Re: Plant ID

[Neil Frank <nfrank at mindspring_com>]

>Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 17:47:45 EDT
>From: BOLLING37 at aol_com
>Subject: Plant ID
>
>Hello all,
>
>     I thought I had this straight but now I'm confused again: 
>I recently bought some Pearlgrass from 2 different Web - based aquatic plant 
>sites.
>Both samples have 2 leaves per node.  I thought Pearlgrass had 4 leaves per 
>node?
>It seems that there are at least 3 different plants commonly sold as 
>Pearlgrass/Baby Tears:  Micranthemum micranthemoides, (2 leaf and 4 leaf per 
>node varieties) and 
>M. umbrosum. Tom Barr has mentioned in the past that he has grown all of
them.
>I know what M. umbrosum looks like, but I'm confused about the other 2 
>species.
>Can anyone identify the other 2?

Micranthemum micranthemoides (3 or 4 leaves per node) and M. umbrosum (2
larger leaves) are both native to North America. Both are called "baby
tears", a name which I believe comes from the Florida Aquatic Plant
industry.  The plant which Amano calls "Pearl Grass" is more similar to
M.micranthemoides, but has 2 leaves per node and a looser growth pattern. I
do not believe that a version of micranthemoides has two. Amano's plant (in
my tank) is pictured here and currently on ebay:
http://www.mindspring.com/~aquaristics/Micranthemum-sp-small.jpg

Neil Frank

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