elatine

[Stephan Mifsud <valerandi at yahoo_com>]

Greg asked:
Anyone have pictures or information on Elatine.  What
is the
full name
so I can search on Google?  Who sells it?

some info:

Elatine: the waterworts

Elatine triandra seems to be the species which is
mostly
availabe in the US. Its a native to the US, Europe and
many
other countries. But I would also like to know where
aquarium variety originates from. There is
unfortunately
very little info about it on the web. Do a google
search for
images. Flora danica is quite good.

Elatine macropoda from the west Mediterranean was used
in many
European aquaria, Many of the older books list it, but
it
seems that its popularity has waned. E. hydropiper has
shallower roots and was not so popular.

E. gussonei is a Maltese endemic. Grows in temporary
rain
water pools that dry up in summer. Nice carpet plant.
I'm
trying it out as an aquarium plant and have sent seeds
from
cultivated plants to Tom Barr for comparing to his
species.

A few posts ago Tom mentioned how to grow E triandra
in an
aquarium.

Submerged, the plants are very similar. Experts tell
them
apart by the flowers and seeds. Until recently the
species I
mentioned were all regarded as to be varieties of E.
hydropiper.

hydropiper 'from water pepper', triandra 'has three
stamens' (nb there are also E. hexandra, E octandra) ,
'macropoda' refers
to the long flower stem, gussonei is named after
Gusson-has strongly curved seeds and relatively larger
pink petals. 

Also Glossostigma elatinoides was named due to its
similarity with Elatine.



best regards

Stephan
Malta






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