# East Texas Wetlands ID's



## davemonkey

I went out ditch-diving again and found some neat plants. I'll post them all in the Local Biotopes forum (East Texas Wetlands), but for now I'd like to see if anyone knows what these particular plants are.

*Grass-like plant that mudboots ID'd, but can't remeber the name*









*Mystery stem 1, sorry, no flowers*

















*Mystery stem 2*

















*Mystery Stem 3 - very large/robust plant *

























*Mystery stem 4 - almost like Diodia, but not...*

























*Pic of Diodia flower for comparison*









Thanks,
Dave


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## kwc1974

Nice, looks like you had a good trip.
I really like the "mystery stem #2" and the grass likeplant at the top.


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## wicca27

will you try these in the fish tank or in a pond outside


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## davemonkey

My best guess is that all of these are good aquatics except the grass-like plant. I'm not planning on trying any right now since my tank is rather full (except I have tried Diodia and it was successful with CO2, not without). If I decide to try some (or you want to), at least I know where to go find it. 

The grass kept showing up just at the transition zone, between the waters edge and drying soil. It was never actually in the water, and never on dry soil, just in between. I don't believe it would live submersed, but Mudboots is actually trying it out in his 20 gal NPT at home.


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## mudboots

I can't see the pics on my work computer so I'll get back when I get home tonight. In the meantime, the grass-like plant is _Fibristylis vahlii_ (90% sure about that, not 100%), and while I don't think it will persist submersed I am giving it a try in the 20 npt (you can see it in the foreground of the pics I posted in El Natural).

Also, the lone stem plant where the leaves wrap toward each other at the base with the purple areas is _Ammannia coccinea_ (95% sure about that one), which seem like it'd be dificult to do in an npt but fine with plenty of CO2. I'm going to put it in my 20 npt and hope it doesn't die (better lighting than the 125). Someone with CO2 ought to try this one out, as it looks promising as a nice aquatic.

I'll check the pics and hopefully get you some id's later this evening.


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## mudboots

Okay, so the grass-like one I've already addressed, Mystery Stem #1 is the Ammannia coccinea, and I'm pretty much useless for the rest. Mystery stem 2 reminds me of some of the loosestrifes, but it wouldn't have been where you found it unless it got there while it was still dry. You ought to plant one stem and see what happens. I have the A.coccinea in the 20 npt along with the F.vahlii, and I put an entire plant of Mystery stem 4 in the 125, but it's just floating because I just can't bring myself to dig around in the substrate for a while after planting some Sagittaria roots and a lot of Eleocharis specimens of different species.

Sorry I wasn't of more help, but at least I'll soon be able to tell you if some of them will grow in water even if I can't id them.

Also, I put several stems of Bacopa rotundifolia outside in a 5gallon bucket to grow it out. It looks promising so far, but we'll have to wait and see.


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## Cavan Allen

Stem #1 likely is _Ammannia coccinea_, but could also be the very, very similar _A. auriculata_ or _A. robusta_. Inflorescences, flowers and fruit would be needed in this case. I have tried A. coccinea as an aquarium plant, and while it does grow submersed, I'd say that based on my experiences so far, it doesn't make the grade. It has never, ever grown any side shoots, whether from trimming or on its own. It does self-fertilize really easily, and I've gotten a few new stems that way. It can look pretty nice as long as it is never allowed to reach the surface, at which point growth accelerates and it only shoots up above the surface from then on. That's only my experience so far though, so YMMV.

#2? Not sure.

#3 looks a lot like _Hygrophila costata_, which is native to Florida all the way down deep into South America, not to mention as an invasive plant elsewhere in the world in places like Australia. Flower closeups? I don't want to commit to even a tentative answer before then. 

#4 _Lythraceae_ of some kind, maybe _R. ramosior_. I'm falling asleep here, so I'll look at this one tomorrow perhaps. Good night everyone.


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## hydrophyte

This is really great material. It is so nice to have some input from some plant ID'ers. 

I would love to try some of these. Are any of you Texans planning any trips to the field anytime soon? I could send stuff in trade for plants.


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## davemonkey

hydrophyte said:


> This is really great material. It is so nice to have some input from some plant ID'ers.
> 
> I would love to try some of these. Are any of you Texans planning any trips to the field anytime soon? I could send stuff in trade for plants.


I'm out in the fields quite often. If you PM me your address, maybe you'll get a surprise one day.


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## Cavan Allen

I think #2 might be _Justicia ovata_. I found a description that says the flowers may be white and mostly on one side of the spike.


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## davemonkey

Cavan Allen said:


> I think #2 might be _Justicia ovata_. I found a description that says the flowers may be white and mostly on one side of the spike.


http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=JUOVL&photoID=dila17_001_avd.tif
I think this may be it ( 'lanceolata' ). The daylight was pretty bright and I see where the flowers look white in the picture. But they were actually more of a lilac in color. At any rate, it looks worth a try.

-Dave


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## mudboots

Mystery Stem 4 is doing great in the 125. No pic for now, becuase I've fallen into the pea soup trap; yeah, 125 gallons of yum. The 20 is two week ahead of it and looks worse, but the trial plants I'm trying look good in it except for the Fimbristylis. I don't think it's cut out for aquarium use unless you use a bajillion ppm CO2 and 4 gigawatts of light (obviously an overstatement).

Like Cavan mentioned, the Ammannia grows but doesn't do much, so it'll eventually disappear.


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