# Elatine hydropiper?



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Really Tropica? You can't tell a Micranthemum from an Elatine? Do they just not care about proper plant identification anymore? It would seem they are selling the Micranthemum sp. 'Monte Carlo' as Elatine hydropiper. Buyers beware if you are looking for true Elatine hydropiper.

http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plantdescription.aspx?pid=025


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Hi Aaron,
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...84724-new-large-pearl-grass-2.html#post664081
There's also a discussion about that on www.flowgrow.de. The plant from Tropica and the "Montecarlo" are apparently identical indeed. One user there is informed by Tropica that it's an error, the genus Micranthemum is confirmed by a DNA analysis. They will label it as Micranthemum sp. "Monte Carlo".

-Heiko


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

p.s.
http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plantdescription.aspx?pid=033E


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

miremonster said:


> p.s.
> http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plantdescription.aspx?pid=033E


Yeah, that's my point.  They just don't seem to care about correctly labeling plants. They used to be really good about it and would not release them until confirming identity.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

The funny thing is that I believe they received it from Tom Barr, so they knew what it was called in the hobby. How they came up with E. hydropiper I don't know. I always thought Tropica was quite accurate in their labeling, at least they pretend to be. Same for Dennerle, but unfortunately they don't care as much as we do


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

AaronT said:


> and would not release them until confirming identity.


Maybe nowadays a company would fall behind economically if it did so...

One reason for the retaining of the name Ammania sp. 'Bonsai' in the trade may be that the name Rotala indica isn't attractive enough due to its wrong usage for an ordinary plant, Rotala rotundifolia, for decades. Several companies, e.g. Anubias, still use both names, R. rotundifolia and R. indica, for different variants of that species. 
Maybe also the information about the ID of "Ammania sp. Bonsai" as R. indica isn't considered credible because it's communicated "only" in forums, not in a journal article or book.


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