# H.tripartita?



## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Hey everyone. 
I bought this plant as H.tripartita but the leaves looks a bit larger than tripartita. How do I make sure it's tripartita and not something else?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Looks a bit more like _H. sibthorpioides_, but it's hard to say for certain from the photos.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Try taking photos with a medium dark background AND a flash.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

yeah that h. tripartita.

pretty bad photos but if you look at first photo right center you can see that the leaves have 3 lobes which is characteristic of tripartita. sibthorpioides doesn't have those distinct lobes.

huh... that's weird. we don't have a plantfinder entry for tripartita. time to take pictures of mine and send them to cavan


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

What's the source of the plant? There are also variants of Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides from Asia with deep lobes, e.g. H. s. var. batrachium, and the Japanese H. yabei that's also treated as synonym of sibthorpioides. No idea if they are also in the aquarium hobby and trade:
http://blog.xuite.net/hsu042/twblog1/122927982-台灣天胡荽
http://flowers2.la.coocan.jp/Araliaceae/Hydrocotyle yabei japonica.htm
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200015610

I don't know the exact differences between the Australian species H. tripartita and the deeply lobed Asian H. sibthorpioides forms. Too few literature here. And the genus Hydrocotyle isn't revised on a worldwide basis. Any Hydrocotyle expert out there who could be asked?

As far as I understand it, the aquarium plant known as H. tripartita or H. sp. "Japan" is only likely the Australian species H. tripartita, it isn't confirmed yet, therefore the H. sp. "Japan" is temporarily called H. *cf.* tripartita. However the H. tripartita shown in pics from Australian hobbyists looks like the H. sp. "Japan".


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Source is Srilanka. And sadly most of the plant have faded away leaving just a few strands. I also have another Hydrocotyle that grows at the speed of one leaf per month in a high tech tank. I'll soon be posting their better pictures and a bit more plant. 
Heiko can you help me with identifying my buces? Or actually helping me in finding their common names? I got them from Junglemike but the problem is nobody in the hobby knows their common names and scientific name only shows mike's photos.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

that's surprising, when i put h. tripartita into my med-high tech tank the thing doubled it's mass every 2 weeks.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

I think it was the shipping and my tinkering with ferts. I finally figured out I was dosing way too much potassium. Downside I lost quite a lot of nicely growing plants. Made my Ammania crassicaulis grow crazy with superb coloration, made my H.corymbosa 'mango' develop strange orangish brown coloration. Made my only fastest growing B.pawan melt the new leaf. I still have few shoots left and hoping it'll finally come back.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

OK; let’s wait if the remains will recover, further better pics may be more telling. Do you know if it was collected in the wild in Sri Lanka? If it was already cultivated in a nursery in Sri Lanka, with unknown origin, it may also be H. tripartita (not native to Asia but Australia). But to be honest, I agree with Cavan, it looks to me rather like a H. sibthorpioides. 

Buce ID: very difficult topic for me, I know far too little about all these newer forms collected in recent time. Let’s write about that issue another time…


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

Oops my bad I just realized that I've never seen sibthorpioides before. I was thinking about H. verticallata when I made the comment about the obvious lobes. verticallata does not have lobes. I'd listen to what miremonster and cavan think, don't mind me


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

So almost all the stems melted except 2, which has started to grow and it does look a lot like tripartita. 
Thats the other hydrocotyle I got. Grows very slow in high light, pressurize co2 tank.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

That other one is surely H. verticillata. 
Compare: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=53

A further photo of your new Hydrocotyle would be interesting nevertheless.
H. cf. tripartita: http://www.flowgrow.de/db/images/wasserpflanzen/detail/hydrocotyle-cf-tripartita-4f7a03d62a8fb.jpg
H. sibthorpioides: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=142


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

The H.tripartita is yet has very tiny leaves. Will post pics once I get nice size leaves. 
Why does my H.Verticillata grows so slow?


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Ok here is the best photos I can get now.


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

I'm thinking H. sibthorpioides, though the photo is admittedly quite blurry.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

I know. It looks sibthorpiodes to me too. 
5usd down the drain, again.


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