# Travis County Aquatic Plants



## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

In a sheer fit of boredom, I decided to use what online resources to
look up the native plants in Travis County. Turns out there are 1,331
species that are indigenous to just our little county alone. Of
those, 91 are aquatic and of those, 57 can thrive underwater
indefinitely.

This is the list I came up with based on all the available data or
rather, that I could easily confirm online for myself of those 57 that
will grow submersed indefinitely.

It is amazing to me what we have available to us in our own
backyards. I'll be reposting this in other forums for
posterity's sake.

PS: I'll give ya'll one guess as to what my next tank will be!

Acmella oppositifolia var. repens
Bacopa monnieri
Bacopa rotundifolia
Cabomba caroliniana
Callitriche heterophylla
Callitriche pedunculosa
Callitriche peploides
Ceratophyllum demersum
Echinodorus berteroi
Elatine brachysperma
Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis compressa
Eleocharis compressa var. acutisquamata
Eleocharis geniculata
Eleocharis macrostachya
Eleocharis montevidensis
Eleocharis palustris
Eleocharis parvula
Eleocharis quadrangulata
Eleocharis rostellata
Heteranthera dubia
Heteranthera limosa
Hydrocotyle umbellata
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Lindernia dubia
Lobelia cardinalis
Lotus unifoliolatus
Ludwigia decurrens
Ludwigia glandulosa
Ludwigia octovalvis
Ludwigia palustris
Ludwigia peploides
Ludwigia repens
Myriophyllum heterophyllum
Najas guadalupensis
Najas marina
Polygonum amphibium var. emersum
Polygonum glabrum
Polygonum hydropiperoides
Polygonum lapathifolium
Polygonum pensylvanicum
Polygonum punctatum
Polygonum ramosissimum
Pontederia cordata
Potamogeton illinoensis
Potamogeton nodosus
Potamogeton pusillus
Ranunculus macranthus
Ranunculus pusillus
Ranunculus sceleratus
Rotala ramosior
Sagittaria calycina
Sagittaria graminea
Sagittaria platyphylla
Samolus ebracteatus
Samolus valerandi
Saururus cernuus


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

Wow, what a list! :supz: Thank you for putting it together. I will start here when looking for new ideas.


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

You're most welcome. Granted, a lot of those will require a collection trip but that's the fun of it, I think.


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

I need to add one more, which makes the total 58.

_Penthorum sedoides_

I'm amazed I missed that one and I have it growing not but 12 feet from me.


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## H2OAggie (Jan 10, 2011)

Fish should be easy, here is a great web resource. The field guide available at the link is fantastic. Distribution is broken down by river system on the website. I believe the field guide has county distribution, but I will have to pull it out and check.

Anyways, here you go:
http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~tbonner/txfishes/

I notice the plant list is lacking any floating species. (eg. duckweed, azolla, watermeal)

Great plant identification resource:
http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Penthorum sedoides makes quite a nice submerged aquatic plant; at least the local variety around central Mississippi does. It is bushy, not leggy, and grows slowly, so you don't have to trim often.


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## H2OAggie (Jan 10, 2011)

I should also ask, have you found a good resource to key out wetland species (specifically of Texas or Southeast US)?


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

H2OAggie said:


> I should also ask, have you found a good resource to key out wetland species (specifically of Texas or Southeast US)?


I have, but not one single source. It required what I like to call sideways thinking .

What I did was, I went to the USDA Plants Database here http://plants.usda.gov/adv_search.html.

I narrowed the search down to just Travis County. Now, this gives me results for every plant that occurs in the county.

I downloaded the results into a CSV file then I just started pulling out the genera I knew to be aquatic.

Now I don't know the name of every genera of freshwater macrophyte, so I once again cross referenced the list with the APHIS KEYS system here: http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/a...Plants/Media/Html/Other/browse_taxa_list.html and went down the list.

This still left me with a lot of choices. The last step was checking every reference I could get a hold of as to which individual species could survive immersed indefinitely. I have no doubt this list has mistakes. In fact, I'm still dubious about the entries for _Polygonum_ but everything I got a hold of seemed to indicate that they all generally do well underwater. Several others were left off as well because I couldn't find enough information to confirm that they amphibious or anything else to confirm their long term survival immersed.

If you know your way around MS Excel, this undertaking becomes a lot easier :wink:.


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

H2OAggie said:


> Fish should be easy, here is a great web resource. The field guide available at the link is fantastic. Distribution is broken down by river system on the website. I believe the field guide has county distribution, but I will have to pull it out and check.
> 
> Anyways, here you go:
> http://www.bio.txstate.edu/~tbonner/txfishes/
> ...


I'm glad you mention the fish! I have an insatiable lust right now for orangethroat darters, _Ethestoma spectabile_. I would love to give them a richly planted habitat in my home. In the wild they seem to make it about two years. I'm sure in captivity with expert care that could easily be doubled. I've been to that very site many times and I was even able to confirm their presence here in Onion Creek, Bull Creek as well as in the shallows and banks of the Lower Colorado.

I left floating species off as a matter of preference. I'll own up to that right now, but I did concede to and I would like to collect _Lotus unifoliolatus_.


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

H2OAggie said:


> Great plant identification resource:
> http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/


Yup, that and the A&M's Suburban and Ornamental Biology Unit totally rock :supz:!


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

HeyPK said:


> Penthorum sedoides makes quite a nice submerged aquatic plant; at least the local variety around central Mississippi does. It is bushy, not leggy, and grows slowly, so you don't have to trim often.


I enjoy their sheer size and bushiness. Mine looks exactly your picture there. It's not the fastest grower but it is impressive when it's happy.


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## H2OAggie (Jan 10, 2011)

Ha, I am actually studying under the professor that runs Aquaplant, so I will admit my bias. 

For floating plants, I was actually able to collect giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) locally, a very cool species. Much better than Lemna minor. 

The USDA plant database is good but often lacking. There are species I have identified and verified with an A&M professor but not recognized on the website as occurring in my county. Just keep that in mind when using it.


For the fish, I highly recommend Freshwater Fishes of Texas: A Field Guide as mentioned above. The photographs are fantastic.


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

I'll do that! Thank you for the tip and I like that _Spirodela polyrhiza_! I've seen that in just about every slower moving to still water body around here. I knew it was related to duckweed but I was never sure which, so mystery solved!

If you have more suggestions please feel free to add to this thread or make a little section for your county or city. Again, I am amazed at what we have accessible to us that just seems to always go ignored.


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## H2OAggie (Jan 10, 2011)

I am really looking forward to my upcoming trip to Caddo Lake where I hope to collect a whole bunch of plant species. I should mention that I am doing my Masters research on Giant salvinia, so I am heading out there to collect some of that as well as several other species. Hopefully I can find some Vallisneria, or even a Ludwigia for my aquarium


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

Don't forget to take pictures when you go!


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

Sigh... Forgot another one that I should have known better about, _Clinopodium cf. brownei_.

I suppose this will forever be a work in progress :smile:.


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