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Nomaphila corymbosa 'compacta' questions



Hi, All!

Last month I inquired about adjusting my weird Bay Area water with SeaChem 
products, and I received many helpful replies and suggestions. A very 
belated thank-you! I think I'll follow one of the recommendations to just 
go ahead and inject CO2. I'm only using a 15-watt fluorescent light over 
this 10-gallon when I set it back up. But I suppose if extra CO2 is not 
going to hurt anything, why not? I was worried that it might have a similar 
effect as over-fertilizing.

Now on to the new... I bought some planties a few days ago. YAY! One was 
"C. Tropica," which I'm assuming is the same as C. wendtii 'tropica'. I'm 
afraid I purchased the other on a whim. In the store, they were labelled 
"Nomaphila corymbosa 'compacta'." I've been told that "Nomaphila" is just 
another name for "Hygrophila"; I think the reason why this store uses the 
former nomenclature is to avoid hassles with the Dept. of Agriculture. Most 
of the Hygrophila spp are banned, here, and I'm sure just having the genus 
name on the packing list would be enough to send up a red flag.

Anyway, I'm not very familiar with Hygrophilas, and this one has a 
particularly curious look to it. There's a "tuft" of healthy-looking leaves 
growing from the tip of what looks almost like a rhizome. And there are a 
few stringy roots emerging from close to where the leaves begin. But the 
rest of the rhizome-looking thingie is just sort of there... It almost 
looks like a plant on stilts. So when I was getting ready to put it in my 
tank, I kind of stood there in confusion, holding the plant for a minute or 
two, trying to decide if I should cut the "stilt" or leave it on in its 
entirety and stick it in the substrate. To be safe, I left it on and 
decided to come here and ask. What should I do? It's longer than the depth 
of my substrate.

Also, would anybody know how big this plant can get? The word 'compacta' 
gave me the impression that it's not going to get too tall, but I guess 
it's all relative... "Compacta" compared to *what*? I looked up and found 
it on the Tropica site, but for height and width, but the data is either 
blank or "0"; My plantie and I would be grateful for any and all help. I'd 
also love to hear about personal experiences in growing it. Anything I 
should know? Thanks!

-Naomi