# Eriocaulon sp. 'red' = Trithuria?



## Cavan Allen

http://translate.google.com/transla...refox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=4o9

(plant and fish, then foreground accent)

The more I look into it, the more I think that plant isn't an _Eriocaulon_. It doesn't look all that much like one, and none of the herbarium specimens I've seen look anything like it. Flowering it would settle the issue quickly and decisively, so I may acquire one for that purpose. Anybody growing it now is invited to do the same.

Also note that _Rotala sp_. 'Goias' is listed as a form of _R. mexicana_, which I've suspected for a while. That doesn't constitute proof, of course, so that's a key one to flower as well.


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## SOLOMON

If the location is correct, this may be helpful

http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/search/advanced?genus=trithuria

Trithuria lanterna appears to be found in the Kimberleys, going off the distribution maps.


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## Cavan Allen

Thanks Solomon. That does help. I wish that one had at least a photo! 

I looked through the Cowie floodplain flora book today and found nothing in it regarding the family. Oh well.


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## Noddy65

If it is from the Kimberley? How do these people get these plants?...the Kimberley isnt the kind of place you can get to with an easy journey from a capital city, its very isolated and is difficult to get to...and why isnt this plant available to us if its from this country? 

So many questions and so few answers...

Mike


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## SOLOMON

I just found a line drawing of a young plant of Trithuria lanterna









"Seedling Diversity in Hydatellaceae: Implications for the Evolution of Angiosperm Cotyledons"
Annals of botany [0305-7364] Sokoloff yr:2007 vol:101 iss:1 pg:153 -164

Not sure how helpful that really is  .... fixed the photo


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## Cavan Allen

Noddy65 said:


> If it is from the Kimberley? How do these people get these plants?...the Kimberley isnt the kind of place you can get to with an easy journey from a capital city, its very isolated and is difficult to get to...and why isnt this plant available to us if its from this country?
> 
> So many questions and so few answers...
> 
> Mike


It wouldn't be the first time somebody found out that people overseas had been growing plants from his own back yard before he was!


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## miremonster

That's very interesting - the Hydatellaceae are a very odd group. Long time regarded as monocots, and often counted among Centrolepidaceae. 
Now molecular studies place the Hydatellaceae in Nymphaeales, as sister to Cabombaceae + Nymphaeaceae: http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html (click on Nymphaeales).


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## Cavan Allen

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2008.cgi?&op=showcase&category=0&vol=0&id=84

Check out the plant listing and the third smaller photo. I examined one of these in person recently and feel even more that it's not an _Eriocaulon_. Again, flowers will be telling.


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## Cavan Allen

For anyone interested, there's an incredibly thorough article on _Trithuria_ from the journal Taxon ((57 (1) February 2008: 179-200) from just last year. In it, the authors place the genus _Hydatella_ into synonomy with _Trithuria_ and describe several new species, at least one of which is from the northern part of Australia.


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## miremonster

I hope it's OK to reanimate this age-old thread because it deals with the ID of the Trithuria "Australia Red" = "Blood V....":

Recently the name _Trithuria lanterna_ floats around in the web as the alleged species name of that aquarium plant. However I couldn't trace back the source of that info. I can't judge if it's a reliable ID or just an assumption. 
By any chance, does anyone know who has IDed this Trithuria as T. lanterna, and by what method?


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## Cavan Allen

I think it is an assumption. I have nothing to suggest otherwise.


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