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Marsilea minuta?

Progen

Member
Joined
25 Dec 2016
Messages
394
Location
Malaysia
I got a bottle of seeds off eBay from a Chinese dealer. They were labeled as HC and germinated within 2 - 3 days. Tried them both emersed and immersed and both germinated successfully. This photo is of the immersed ones after 16 days.

By chance, I saw some photos of marsilea minuta and was wondering whether that's what they are because a lot of hobbyists have said that the seeds are definitely not HC.

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As you can see, they are starting to develop another pair of leaves perpendicular to the first.
 
It's not marsilea. In fact I'm pretty certain it's not even an aquatic. If you chat with some of the aquascapers in Indonesia on Instagram, they'll tell you it dies submerged after a couple of weeks. Seems to grow indefinitely emergent though.
 
It's not marsilea. In fact I'm pretty certain it's not even an aquatic. If you chat with some of the aquascapers in Indonesia on Instagram, they'll tell you it dies submerged after a couple of weeks. Seems to grow indefinitely emergent though.

It's getting confusing now. Someone said it becomes a long stemmed plant. Another said it was doing fine even after 4+ months.

What would be best would be if we could know exactly what it is.
 
Hi all,
I saw some photos of marsilea minuta
@Berlioz is right, it definitely isn't a fern (like Marsilea) you can see the <"two cotyledons"> that show that it is a higher plant. If the cotyledons (first two large "leaves") are notched or "caudiform" (photo below), it is likely to be a Brassica, possibly something like Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea).

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We had a post a while a go <"What is "carpet seed""> that suggested the seeds might be Herniaria glabra, but I think that has a longer, more lanceolate cotyledon.

cheers Darrel
 
It's going to be tough to tell for now because both the emersed and immersed ones have stagnated in development for the past week.
 
How about Marsilea Quadrifolia?

Any chance of these being that? To those who've had experience with quadrifolia, do the four leaves grow out together or two at a time?
 
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This is after 3 weeks from accidental seeding. Fully immersed.
 
Oh dear, there goes the marsilea dream. Was seriously hoping it'd be something which can live immersed because I have a custom 2' cube coming and with their germination rate, I can have a full carpet within 3 weeks.

They were a bit slow in this current tank because the water had no fertilization, lights were insufficient and no water changes during the first 10 days or so.
 
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Hi all,
Could it be a hydrocolyte?
No, Hydrocotyle has alternate leaves, your plant (and the one in the linked thread) has "opposite decussate" leaves.
phylleaf_en.gif

but you can see the pictures and its NOT Hygrophila polysperma
No, but it might be Hygrophila corymbosa? A plant from the Acanthaceae would have opposite decussate leaves.

The only real way to tell wold be to grow it emersed and see if it flowers.

cheers Darrel
 

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This one look very much like a Hygrophila sp.- there are many to choose from.
Like said before, it should be grown emerse for flowers for ID. Hygrophila are usually very easy to flower.
Some of the Hygrophila's are very virile, easily producing seed, that is (relatively) easy to harvest with a high percentage germinating.
These are facts, that would make it a likely candidate for selling seeds...........
 
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This is what those sneaky buggers have grown into. The photo doesn't really show it but some of them have reddish leaves.

I have to admit that they're not growing that well because they were accidentally introduced into the tank when I poured in the leftover aquasoil (can't afford to waste a single granule of that black gold) into my main tank.
 
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