# New Anubias species!?



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

My friend recently took a trip to Gabon in Africa where he collected and brought these back for me. Anyone know what species they are? They have kind of a shiny look to them, hard to capture with the camera but they've been growing really well submersed for the past month. Looks similar to anubias 'white' but still looks different. I can't figure it out.






Here they are in the water. See how they are a reflective? Not really white. Sorry for the crappy image quality. Also the leaf shape looks a bit different. They are more pointy than the other normal anubias petite I have behind them on the left.

Also see the rhizome it is completely silvery as well, not like anubias snow. 









Pulled them out & dried off for a picture


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

*Re: Anubias ID? What species is this?*

Maybe _Anubias argentum_. Looks like a deficiency though. But I guess you're the expert there.


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## CowBoYReX (Jan 27, 2014)

*Re: Anubias ID? What species is this?*

Is it Anubias nana show white?


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## burr740 (Mar 6, 2015)

awesome


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

The color looks iridescent, reflective, or structural rather than a pigment (or lack thereof). I reminds me of animals and plants that trap air in tiny hairs, producing a silvery appearance when submerged.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Like when red root floater is put underwater. 

That might be it, I can't see close enough to tell if there are little hairs on the surface of the leaf.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Definitely showing signs of deficiency.


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## burr740 (Mar 6, 2015)

could be sp chrome


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

I highly suspect it of being Anubias sp. "Michael has a hobby of casting things in metal when he gets bored."

So what was it this time? Aluminum?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Hehe, you guys are too sharp. Thanks Cavan for being in on it 

Amanda you caught on too! haha.

It is an April fool's prank. Anubias argentium isn't real.... They are solid and made from sterling silver. I cast them and then polished them with my magnetic polisher that I built recently.

Chose the plants I wanted to copy into silver









Poured investment (a special type of plaster) around it









Spin cast them in my centrifugal caster









dunked it in water to dissolve the investment.









Fresh out of the investment.









Brushed to remove investment, into the acid bath to clean off the fire scale.









After the acid bath it is pure white. 









Next step polishing it to bring out the shine. The little balls under the leaves were air bubbles that got trapped and filled with silver. Easy to pick them off.









Into the magnetic polisher for about an hour. The polisher is still unfinished (but is functional) in this video on my messy work bench. 





All polished up:


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## CowBoYReX (Jan 27, 2014)

Nice, I did kinda wondered how you were unable to Id a plant

Those are pretty cool though I wouldn't mind making similar plants, a Cory after it passes...


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

You got me! You'd think after listening to NPR for decades, I would be wary of these April Fools' Day stories. I even went so far as to Google _Anubias argentum_ and did not find anything--duh!

The castings are very beautiful.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Haha, read it today and was already hoping for an even more shiny Anubias version of Bucephalandra. Too bad I didn't checked apc yesterday


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