# Staurogyne repens, 'Porto Velho' and 'Low Grow' - differences?



## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Hi all,

I was wondering - what are the differences between the various substrate-hugging Staurogynes?

From Plant Finder, the only major difference seems to be that S. sp. 'Low Grow' has a stem width (or, leaf span) of 4", whereas S. sp. 'Porto Vehlo' has a stem width of 2". 

I have been unable to find any direct comparisons with Tropica's Staurogyne repens. Pictures have looked a little more apple green, or golden green, but that may be photographic or screen variation.

Which is the smallest, which stays closest to the substrate, and are there other distinguishing characteristics, like coloring, which would help with distinguishing these from one another?

Thanks very much!
-Jane


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

i have porto & repens. the difference that is obvious is that repens has more rounded leaves compared to the pointy leaves of porto.


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

I'd agree that Porto Velho has the narrowest, pointiest leaves. I've never had Low Grow (wasn't there some debate over whether it was the same species as S. repens awhile back? Was that ever resolved?), but have experimented with S. repens in a few tanks.

Ironically, my S. sp. 'Porto Velho' has shown a much greater inclination towards creeping than my S. repens. Of course, 'Porto Velho' also grows much better for me in general (I'm convinced S. repens just hates me on principle), and seems to require a bit less lighting as well.


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## nfrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Here is a full tank picture showing both "porto velho" and "low grow." The tank is 90gal - 36"wide, 24" tall - to give dimensional perspective and some more specific idea of the relative sizes of these two Staurogyne.
The l-g is seen in the front right. The p-v is in the front center. Clearly, "low grow" is not the shorter plant. 









Other plants in the picture are Hemianthus sp. var "New pearl grass" (left front), Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, Blyxa japonica and Echinodorus angustifolius [Helanthium angustifolium] in the back. The tall red plant is Echinodorus var. "narrow leaf rubin."


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Thanks for your replies!

And... great picture for comparison, Neil! Yeah, I got the impression that S. 'Low Grow' was a larger plant than S. 'Porto Velho'. Thanks for confirming that notion. 

So it sounds like S. repens is going to be similar in growth to the S. 'L-G' then, if folks were discussing if it was the same species. I got some S. 'P-V' recently, which is doing great, and is making me a big fan of it, and I got the opportunity to get some S. repens, which is on the way, so I'm wondering about where to place it. 

Thanks very much for the input. Its often difficult to get a sense of relative size in the isolated Plant Finder database. I appreciate your weighing in on this.

-Jane


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I was under the impression that Staurogyne sp. 'Porto Velho' and S. repens (the Tropica one) are the same species...possibly different varieties/culitvars. I've had the Tropica Staurogyne (the one they are now calling S. repens) for several months now, and it stays very low and small...nothing like the 'Low Grow', which is a rather large plant as far as foregrounds go.

P.S. sorry for not italicizing my plant names...the button isn't working for me.


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## JustLikeAPill (Oct 9, 2006)

S. repens has much shorter, less elongated and pointy leaves that sp. 'Porto Velho' in my opinion. It's shorter and proportionally wider leaves make the plant look much more compact. 

It takes a while for cutting so root but once it establishes a good root system it goes crazy!


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

JustLikeAPill said:


> It takes a while for cutting so root but once it establishes a good root system it goes crazy!


That has been my experience as well, even in NPT/El Natural.


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