# Hydrocotyle sp. "Japan"



## linus87

Hello everybody! This is my _Hydrocotyle_ sp. "Japan" in the emerged form.


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## THHNguyen

Cool. This has been floating around in the USA as "_Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides_". It looks rather different though.


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## linus87

Hello,
Thank you. _Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides_ has a different look


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi linus87,

One of our GSAS members was in San Francisco and visited the ADA distributor there, Aqua Forest Aquarium. He also picked up a 'mini' Hydrocotyle that was being sold as sp. 'Japan'. Here is what he wrote in our GSAS member chat:



> I bought it as Hydrocotyle sp. Japan in San Francisco but I realize it is H. tripartita.


You might want to see if that is what you have as well.


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## linus87

Hi Seattle_Aquarist,
it is possible, but I bought this plant with this name.
I await the flower for classifying.


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## doubleott05

Better flower it to proove it.

i think people have been renaming certain plants as "japan" to make it sparkly and new. there are alot of misnamed variants out there that arnt so. i think we have all suffered from a plant that has been sold to us with a fancy name only to find out we could have bought it at petsmart. I once saw HC "japan" and as far as i know there is no such thing. so do your homework before you put a name/plant out there that does not exist.

i think it would be wise for you to flower it to find out for sure.

thanks
Elliot


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## SOLOMON

Looks very similar to our native Hydrocotyle tripartita

http://www.aquagreen.com.au/plant_data/Hydrocotyle_tripartita.html


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## dougrm3

linus87,
Thank you posting this thread. I have what I believe is the same plant for about a year now. Got mine from a hobbyist in California. Here is an old picture off center and a cutting in a holding tank. Pretty plant.

Doug


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## linus87

Hi Doug,
it seems the same plant


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## linus87

Thank you SOLOMON. Do you have a photo?


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## Jeffww

http://www.aquagreen.com.au/plant_data/Glossostigma_diandrum.html

DEAR LORD?! Do you ship this out of the states, Solomon? This plant looks incredible!

sorry to hijack the thread.


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## SOLOMON

linus87 said:


> Thank you SOLOMON. Do you have a photo?


I do, they aren't the best specimens for comparison












Jeffww said:


> Re: Hydrocotyle sp. "Japan"
> http://www.aquagreen.com.au/plant_da..._diandrum.html
> 
> DEAR LORD?! Do you ship this out of the states, Solomon? This plant looks incredible!
> 
> sorry to hijack the thread.


Hey Jeff,

You should email Dave at Aquagreen for specific information but from what I understand, they have yet to recieve permission to export, its a rigorous process involving lots of red tape, federal laws and all sorts of political stuff and they've been trying for a while.

I think quite a few of our natives would be very well recieved internationally


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi linus87,

Here is something that might help.


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## Cavan Allen

I don't know where you got that pic Roy, but it does show the leaves of _H. tripartita_ well. Note that the leaves are divided _all the way to the bottom_. I scoped out some specimens and dug up some info on it, which backs that up. I'm not quite so sure the new plant going around is that species. What it is, I don't know. It does seem to be distinct from _H. sibthorpioides_. I'll get some going emersed.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Cavan,

I too am growing some emersed; no flowers yet. I agree it does not look like H. tripartita, nor does it look identical to H. sibthorpioides. At first I thought it looked like H. pedicellosa but I am not so sure about that one either. Did you ever reach a determination?

Hydrocortyle sp.


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## Cavan Allen

I discovered that in the right conditions, this plant DOES grow leaves that look like those of _H. tripartit_a. I missed my chance to make a specimen but hope to give it another shot soon. I'll have some good help if I need it too.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Cavan,

Thank you for the update!


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## mythin

I finally got my Hydrocotyle sp. "Japan" or Hydrocotyle tripartita to flower:


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi mythin,

Very cool and very helpful; thank you for the post!


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## asukawashere

Very cool! You should press some of the flowering stems to send to someone who can ID them


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## miremonster

That puzzles me:
there's apparently a pennywort native to East Asia with leaves looking very much like the Australian Hydrocotyle tripartita:
http://blog.roodo.com/abun3/archives/5989945.html
On that website it's called Hydrocotyle formosana. According to Flora of China (efloras.org) H. formosana is a synonym of H. sibthorpioides var. sibthorpioides. But the description of H. sibthorpioides var. batrachium matches the the "H. formosana" pics. 
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200015610
I don't find any hints if H. tripartita is synonymized with H. sibthorpioides, H. s. var. batrachium or any other Asian taxon by some botanists. And I don't know a direct distinction between H tripartita and sibthorp. in literature.


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## Rob Tetrazona

I bought mine at the local fish club meeting a couple of month's ago. It was HAP'ed as Hydrocotyle sp. 'Japan'. Does anybody have an opinion if this is in fact 'Japan' or which species it looks most like?


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## miremonster

I have no doubt that Your plant is the Hydrocotyle sp. 'Japan' that most probably belongs to the Australian species H. tripartita. I believe there's till now no other very similar Hydrocotyle in the aquarium hobby, except H. sibthorpioides. 
However, in an Australian aquarium forum I've read something about 2 different local forms of H. tripartita.


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## Rob Tetrazona

Fantastic! Thank you for confirming the ID! I do remember the club member who HAP'ed it said that it was originally from Australia, but it had to be called 'Japan'.


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