# Trying to decide if new plant is one of three candidates



## frog111 (Feb 14, 2006)

Blyxa alternifolia
Calliche terrestris
Lagarosiphon madagascarensis

stem plant, with very thin long leaves. Under low light the nodes were over an inch or two apart, but under higher light they are very closely spaced.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Definitely not one of those. Might be _Potamogeton quadrifolius_, but hard to say. Maybe take it out and photograph it? Where did you get it?


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

I agree with Cavan, it looks most similar to Pogostemon quadrifolius (aka Pogostemon stellatus "Octopus") to me. But as said, hard to recognize.


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## frog111 (Feb 14, 2006)

Thanks, but the pogostemon stellatus pic on plant finder does not resemble the plant in my tank.

Of the plants on the plant finder, the three I listed are the most similar


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

He didn't say it was _P. stellatus_. It's quadrifolius, most likely.

And those plants you listed are definitely not similar. For one thing, none of them have leaves in whorls, as your plant does.

What about the questions I posed earlier?


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Cavan Allen said:


> He didn't say it was _P. stellatus_. It's quadrifolius, most likely.
> 
> And those plants you listed are definitely not similar. For one thing, none of them have leaves in whorls, as your plant does.
> 
> What about the questions I posed earlier?


Haha, this post made my day! OP asking advice, not reading any of the answers and arguing with them


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## frog111 (Feb 14, 2006)

I bought the plant from a fish store on sepulveda in culver city. 

I will try for a better pic at some point.


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## shaunwinterton (Jun 27, 2012)

Is Pogostemon quadrifolius the same as P. stellatus narrow leaf in the stores? Has anyone flowered it to confirm the identity?

S..


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Hello Shaun, I haven't found much examples of P. s. "Narrow leaf" in the web (at least this trade name is apparently unknown in the European hobby), but this one: http://www.hanaquatics.com/pogostemon-stellatus-narrow-leaf/ looks to me very different from the very loose submerged habit of the P. quadrifolius that's known to me.

The P. quadrifolius strain that was introduced as P. stellatus "Octopus" was collected by Claus Christensen in Laos and IDed by Christel Kasselmann after flowering. Interestingly she wrote in her article in the German DATZ journal that her research also raised questions about the identity of the several aquarium plants that are labeled as Pogostemon stellatus. So it would be interesting indeed to flower that "Narrow Leaf" and other "stellatus" forms, and to (re-)examine them.


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