# Mislabeled Ludwigia



## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Got it in eBay recently sold as "_L. ovalis_," which it isn't. It has opposite leaves, no hint of alternate on either old or new growth. The picture on the auction was correct, but not the plant I got. Got a quick refund (which was nice because I overpaid for it), but now have an unidentified plant and I'm not very familiar with _Ludwigia _yet.

The color in the pics is a little off, sorry. This and the _Proserpinaca _are much more orange, and the _L_. 'Rubin' new submerse growth is more crimson than purple- amazingly so. You can see why my... creative... lighting is odd in the FTS LOL.

Also had a CO2 failure a little while ago (cheap setup, should have known better), so please ignore the half-dead algae and construction dust from trying to remove it in there. Believe me, it looks 100X better than it did last week.



















I just noticed this is my best designed tank. Just look at all those triangles and golden ratios .


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Sorry about the pic links. Apparently that site always redirects to their pages to see the pics now, didn't used to be that way. I'll quit using them and go somewhere that allows direct links.


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## pweifan (Jun 23, 2007)

How sure are you that it's a Ludwigia? I agree in the pictures the coloring sure looks like it, but if you say the coloring is off, the growth pattern sure looks like Alternathera ficoidea to me. See a good pic here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/161625312498?lpid=82&chn=ps

Any chance that might be it?


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

I don't _think _it's an Alternanthera; the texture seems wrong. I probably couldn't show it in a phone picture but it has a different gloss - and the feel is more like Ludwigia. But that's still a good point. I assumed the grower (or their supplier) just mixed up a couple L's with similar-ish colors, but there's no reason to think they didn't confuse entirely different genera. I'll have to bloom it this summer.

Edit: I see the seller you linked lists L. ovalis - but with a photo of some other plant that has opposite leaves.


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

And thanks for thinking of that - it probably wouldn't have crossed my mind for a long time, if ever.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Probably _L. repens _ x _L. arcuata_.


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Cavan Allen said:


> Probably _L. repens _ x _L. arcuata_.


Thanks Cavan. Weirdly, I dreamt about you last night. Not as crazy as it sounds: Plant breeding is an interest of mine so IDs are important. Just before going to sleep I read some article or blog post that stuck in my head, about you correcting _Hemianthus glomeratus_ while I was trying to ID a weed that came as seeds in some Florida grown hairgrass. The dream just included you there looking at the flowers and mumbling about chasmogamy and cleistogamy and saying "they have it backward" LOL. I promised to bloom mine and check them (I intend to anyway. The leaves are opposite, not whorled, but the seedlings are still on their first few [6-7] pairs of true leaves so it's probably too early to call that).

Back on topic, _Ludwigia repens X arcuata_ wouldn't be a bad thing, it looks like a nice plant when the leaves extend out a little and I'm setting up new tanks. It's also one of the plants that I ordered but got cooked in the box by a heat pack a couple days ago. It's being replaced, so I'll get to compare them as they grow out in a cuttings tank and emergent box.

BTW this tank is a propagation area while it grows out the _E._ 'Belem' lawn that got a halfway "dry start." Actually all of my tanks are just growing out recent cuttings and small plantlets right now. The best designed comment was just a joke (sort of).


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Ha. I had a dream where I had beard algae that would instantly reappear as soon as I removed it. 

Working on a micranthemoides article for the next TAG!


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Cavan Allen said:


> Ha. I had a dream where I had beard algae that would instantly reappear as soon as I removed it.


You sure that was a dream?



> Working on a micranthemoides article for the next TAG!


Taxon Advisory Group?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Yes, I'm fairly sure I was asleep. 

TAG!
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/tag.html


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

I wish you hadn't linked that. I don't need another specialized plant journal that I never get around to reading LOL. But it's not too expensive... *sigh*


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