# Is Süßwassertang  Lomariopsis lineata?



## zozo (30 May 2021)

I did this before in 2017 with similar results a few years back. But I unintentionally destroyed it by mistake before it became conclusive.








						Lomariopsis cf. lineata experiment..
					

Months ago, could be closer to a year, actualy forgot.. But doesn't matter.. Anyway, the story goes this plant is a Prothallus from the Terrestrial fern Lomaropsis sp. Genetic research did put it closest to L. lineata, but that is just a researchers educated guess.. Till now nobody could get it...



					www.ukaps.org
				




Then I did the same experiment again,  put  Süßwassertang in a closed pot with a transparent lid and some clay-based peat soil and put it away in a light spot and wait and wait and wait. It also contains a number of Microsorum sp.




Haven't looked in it for at least 6 months, but I planted this pot over 2 years ago... And today I see what I've seen before, a young tiny plantlet resembling a fern. And it definitively doesn't resemble your Microsorum.

It's this little baby...  And it resembles in grow form from my first failing experiment.




Now I will be much more careful with it and make sure it ain't destroyed again. It still could be simple contamination and no Lomaropsis sp. For now, it is what it is and I hope it will grow and finally reveal its species. But since it is so similar to my first experiment I have high hopes... The mystery might be solved... 

Another nice observation is seeing a java fern develop fluffy brow roots from its rhizome. I've never seen this before, not even on emerged forms from the LFS or terrarium shops.


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## Tim Harrison (30 May 2021)

Excellent, really glad you managed to recreate the experiment. I was really excited to see how it would have progressed, and just as excited now. Well done Marcel 👍


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## zozo (30 May 2021)

Tim Harrison said:


> Excellent, really glad you managed to recreate the experiment.



Thanks, Tim!...  But managing is the one thing I didn't do... It is more like chuck it in a container with some proper soil. And manage to stay away, don't touch it, and let it be. The only maintenance I did was put a few drops of water in every few months. And it took about 4 years for this little plantlet to appear. And I may be opened this canister 5 or 6 times in this period. I guess that's why it failed the first time, I got excited and wanted to manage something made a mistake and it died.

What's also remarkable is all the baby Microsorums iI planted in it back then never really grew very much bigger... One would expect a plant to outgrow the container but it doesn't. Does it really seem that plants adapt to closed environments and adapt their size accordingly?  And how do they register this?


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## zozo (7 Jun 2021)

It's steadily growing... And the 2nd stem has formed a leaf as well




Looking at its base (Red Arrows) it really looks like it is developing from some kind of gametophyte...



But!? In the red circle is a very young Microsorum leaf...


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## zozo (31 Aug 2021)

# months into the process and still none the wiser what it could be... It barely grew, maybe a few millimetres or so? Thus it definitively ain't much of a grower. To keep my hopes up high I guess if it were local contamination it would have grown a lot faster than this?

All I know is it originally contains Java Fern, Liverwoths and some other moss and Lomariopsis cf lineata. On some peat-based clay soil. 
All I did put in there came directly from the aquatic forms I took from the aquarium. Overtime (Years) it all transitioned to what it is in this pot.










Referring back to pics from the previous and failed experiment in 2017 I definitively see the resemblance in leaf shape. Then again if contamination it would be very much a coincidence to have the same one?





And this container only contained Lomariopsis cf lineata afaik.





The plot thickens... 

This as a mature specimen and it kinda looks promising too, regarding the growing form, it looks as if the young leaf from the above is ready to split into 3 fingers. 





????


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## zozo (19 Feb 2022)

And again months later still not growing very much... 




And it actually lost a leaf, but 1 is still alive... Never have seen such a small plant that refuses to grow in about 1 year time...




It's in here among the others, now I wonder how long it was there even smaller without me noticing it. Because i planted this pot a few years back with scraps from the aquarium.


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