# Identify Plant please help



## shumim (May 4, 2016)

so i have this plant i bought (without knowing/asking what type it is) now i regret it cus i need to know its name to grow and take care of it. The plant does not have a root and is not floating from the surface, thats all the info i have. please see on my facebook for the pic. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...09418147.43963.100001898181798&type=3&theater


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Moved your thread to the Plant ID section where it will get more attention.

It is hard to see the details on the plant from the photo but I think I can make out some bladders which is a sign it is from the utricularia group of plants. An interesting carnivorous plant with pretty flowers.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Zapins,

Regrettably the link does not seem to work well.

Hi shumin,

At first I thought it might be bladderwort but looking more closely it looks like an Eleocharis species, possibly Eleocharis vivipara.








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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Looks like _Nitella flexilis_, a macro alga.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

I agree with Cavan, looks like Nitella.

Btw., the Eleocharis in Seattle Aquarist's photo is interesting to me because it looks like the stuff that was known as E. vivipara many years ago in (East) Germany. I've kept it for a while, and with its ascending, bent upward culms of the adventitious plantlets it looked different from the one that's available as E. vivipara today where these culms are straight.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

There is also _E. baldwinii_, which is similar.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Cavan Allen said:


> There is also _E. baldwinii_, which is similar.


 Thx Cavan, do you know of attempts to verify the identity of aquarium "vivipara"? I wonder how true E. vivipara looks like under aquarium conditions.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

...Furthermore, in a German aquarium plant book from the 70's (Paffrath, Bestimmung und Pflege von Aquarienpflanzen) is a photo of a submerged "Eleocharis minima" with adventitious plantlets too. (Unfortunately E. sp. "Mini" = "Belem" is also sold as E. sp. "Minima" and may be taken for the species E. minima...)


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I have an eleocharis that I believe is vivapara. When I first got it it grew into quite a mess much like the picture. Over time however it has stopped reproducing in that way and has grown into a much straighter and much taller plant.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

miremonster said:


> Thx Cavan, do you know of attempts to verify the identity of aquarium "vivipara"? I wonder how true E. vivipara looks like under aquarium conditions.


I did not know there were attempts. I have what I think is probably baldwinii that has reddish leaf sheaths and a slightly less messy growth habit. I collected it in Florida last summer but didn't think anyone would be interested in it.


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