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magic plant
Folks, this isn't a question, just an observation.
Last summer I was using an old clear plastic cherry box with peat+gravel
on the bottom to grow out some baby E. cordifolius. Over the winter and
particularly into the spring I had some tiny plantlets appear in the
tray. The tray was below the mother plant, so I assumed the plants
sprouted from E. cordifolius seeds that fell from the mother plant into
the water. Most of the seedlings stayed around for a while then
disappeared.
This spring I was trying to grow E. cordifolius from seed, and had two
shallow deli trays that the seedlings were sprouting in. I still had a
seedling from the cherry box, so I transplanted it in with the other
seedlings.
A while later I noticed that the seedling I transplanted was different
from the others, and on closer inspection I realized that it had a
stem. It wasn't E. cordifolius at all. I had no idea what it was, but
I left it there anyway.
A few weeks ago I transplanted all of the larger E. cordifolius
seedlings and the little mystery plant into one of my aquariums. The E.
cordifolius are growing slowly, but the stem is taking off at a good
growth rate. Now I think I can finally identify the plant.
It looks like H. zosterifolia.
That's a pretty common plant, but where the heck did it come from? I
haven't had H. zosterifolia around here for quite a while. I sent the
last of mine out to Oklahoma City, but I can't remember exactly when.
So I have no idea where my new H. zosterifolia came from. The substrate
in the cherry box was old, but it stored in the garage for a long time
before I used it, and it probably never had H. zosterifolia growing in
it.
Aquatic plants are pretty amazing.
Baffled in Albuquerque
Roger Miller