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Re: Japanese rush plants



Robert, I found photos of a plant labelled Blyxa aubertii on a website in
Singapore (Freshwater Macrophytes  -
http://www.molluscan.com/macrophytes/#B ). It was photographed growing
underwater - looks kind of "weedy", with straplike leaves. The same photos
appear on a related page
(http://www.molluscan.com/tripreports/trip0701.shtml).

The same name is used on another website from Indonesia, this one a
commercial exporter of fish and plants
(http://www.persadaq.com/persadaq/aquaticplant.html), The photo paired with
the name B. aubertii on that site shows a much "finer" growing plant. The
leaves appear almost cylindrical, certainly not "straplike", as the photo on
the other site.

One of these is probably misidentified, at least at the species level -
either that, or the plant is very variable in growth habit. According to one
of Karen Randall's Aquarium Frontier's articles
(http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/aug/aquatic/default.asp), B.
aubertii has sharply pointed narrow lanceolate leaves. And, acording to
Karen's article, all of the Blyxia species are true aquatics, although the
flowers are emergent. This description matches the photo on the commercial
site listed above better than it does to the photos on the other sites.

James Purchase
Toronto