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Acmella repens


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#1 Guest_Erica Lyons_*

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Posted 28 January 2014 - 05:35 PM

I was browsing the aquabid listings for neat plants, and I found one I wanted to buy from a seller. Well, it makes sense to combine shipping, so I looked at what else they had to sell and where those plants came from.

The vendor is also selling this plant, acmella repens:
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http://www.aquabid.c...antsb1391213410

It's different looking than everything in my tank right now (mostly very fine leaved things) and a pretty shade of green, very healthy looking. There are images on google of other people keeping it in the aquarium, so it appears to be a true aquatic. And when I looked it up on plants.usda.gov, it appears to be native? maybe?

http://plants.usda.g...le?symbol=acopr
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(I live in North Carolina currently)

I'm always up for adding native plants to my fish tank, so I bid on it. The thing is that the plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=acopr page is a listing for "Acmella oppositifolia (Lam.) R.K. Jansen var. repens (Walter) R.K. Jansen
oppositeleaf spotflower"

Is that the same species? The usda picture is this (below), but for all I know that's the emersed form and plants can have totally different submerged and emersed forms.

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I dunno. If this is the same thing, that's cool, I like native plants in my fish tanks. If this is a different plant, that's also cool. It's really just a curiosity to know if they are the same or different.

#2 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 28 January 2014 - 06:02 PM

There's no way to tell from the 1st pic if the vendor has ID'd it correctly. I can see it has opposite, coarsely-toothed leaves like Acmella (= Spilanthes in older refs) in the 2nd pic, but so do LOTS of other plants. If he has some of it growing emergent and flowering, then it should be identifiable, or if he collected it when flowering. I dont think it grows submersed in nature, but it might in captivity with "training". It's wetland indicator status is FACW, which means it often grows on dry land too.

Alan Weakley (UNC Herbarium): "Acmella repens (Walter) L.C. Richard in Person, Creeping Spotflower. Floating vegetation mats, roadsides, streambanks, other moist, open, habitats. July-December. Se. NC south to s. FL, west to e. TX, north in the Mississippi Embayment to w. TN and s. MO."

#3 Guest_Erica Lyons_*

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Posted 28 January 2014 - 06:17 PM

hmm. Well, I'll take pictures of it when it arrives. I ordered three plants. Ludwigia inclinata tornado (it looks soooooo cool!), which I think is more a south american thing, this acmella repens thing which may or may not be a true aquatic (I'm having my doubts but eh, it was cheap and I was already paying shipping anyway *shrugs*), and eriocaulon parkeri, which apparently is native to NC but I've never seen it before. It's short and spiky, something this fish tank doesn't have, so eh, I added that one to the box, too.

Eriocaulon parkeri vendor picture:
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That base reminds me of a tillandsia air plant.

USDA eriocaulon parkeri distribution map:
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http://plants.usda.g...le?symbol=ERPA4

Pictures once they arrive :)

#4 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 28 January 2014 - 09:14 PM

That Eriocaulon parkeri looks VERY similar to something I remember seeing when I was collecting in extreme SE NC with Fritz years ago. I always thought perhaps it was a small form of one of the Echinodorus species, but I'm certainly no expert on native plant species. Very cool!

#5 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 08:22 AM

Pipeworts are not the easiest plants to grow submerged. Supplying the high light levels they need practically guarantees you'll have algae issues if you don't supplement with CO2. On the other hand, I started two years ago with a single crown with almost no roots that turned up in a seine pull on a sampling trip in the Jersey Pine Barrens (remember Gerald?) which I planted emersed in my outdoor bog garden. At the end of last season I had 8 or 10 healthy plants growing in conditions ranging from constantly damp to emersed.

#6 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 09:29 AM

Btw, here's a current pic of one of my emersed specimens. It's in the patch I removed the snow from. I'm spreading them around, because here in PA Pipeworts are considered completely extirpated. One other thing top consider is that I tried growing a few emersed several years ago, but I used my tapwater which runs about 200ppm TDS. They melted faster than an ice cream cone in August. I use only rainwater or in a pinch RO on them as for carnivorous plants.:

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#7 Guest_Erica Lyons_*

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 12:10 PM

Interesting. Well, my tap was 0 DH hardness when I measured it. Maybe they'll have a good chance at life.

#8 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 12:38 PM

I understand that some populations are found in near brackish conditions, but obviously not the first ones I tried! We were finding Blue Backed Herring in the same location I got my current stock, but until I have more individuals to work with I don't plan on experimenting. What I'm doing is working. Lack of light or algae infestation are the usual suspects if they don't make it in aquaria.

#9 Guest_Erica Lyons_*

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Posted 31 January 2014 - 05:16 PM

The plants arrived looking like steamed spinach. I'm having a chat with the vendor to ask if they've got any tricks to revive them.

Here's a photo of above the tank, looking down at the plants floating on the surface.
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#10 Guest_Subrosa_*

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Posted 31 January 2014 - 06:52 PM

The Pipewort isn't too bad. Just needs a little wash & cut. They're all about the roots.




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