# staurogyne like wild plant in Austin, tx



## mythin (Sep 2, 2007)

I was walking around the lake near where I work, and there are a few fresh water streams that lead to the lake, I found one with lots of ludwigia and bacopa monneri i think, but there is this one beautiful green/purple plant that I hadn't seen before, I was going to try to get a plant ID on it if anyone knows what it is.










additional pic of random other plants









Im gonna pick a few after work to drop in my tank, and get a closer picture, but the whole leaf has a purple sheen to it, with dark purple veins and a dark purple stem, the green parts are a little silvery.


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## bbjai (May 10, 2014)

should quarantine them first. you dont know what critters have laid what eggs on them. >.>


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## mythin (Sep 2, 2007)

Here is a close up of the plant, my camera phone didnt quite capture how purple it is, but you can tell from the picture a little bit.










Any thoughts?


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## mythin (Sep 2, 2007)

couple more pictures after adding it to my tank, the lighting shows the purples better.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

That's probably _Veronica americana._


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## mythin (Sep 2, 2007)

Thanks Cavan! I started googling after your suggestion and found a few pictures, I think it might be Veronica anagallis-aquatica or a hybrid, looks more like Veronica anagallis-aquatica, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Google led me to the following posts, the italian site's Veronica anagallis-aquatica definitely looks really close to what I have.

http://www.funghiitaliani.it/?showtopic=53785

http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/33673-Puddle-River-pirating-in-southern-Oregon

Thanks again! one last question, is this not a suitable aquarium plant?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=VEAN2

www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Veronica+americana

Still say that's probably americana. Both species suitable, both weeds.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Interestingly _Veronica catenata_ Pennell is listed as synoym of anagallis-aquatica on the USDA site: http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=VEAN2
In German floras (Schmeil-Fitschen etc.) they are treated as distinct species, differentiated e.g. by leaf shape. I've found plants IMO belonging to both species and tried them in my tank; V. anagallis-aquatica didn't grow well, the stems hardly rooted in the ground. In contrast V. catenata is apparently a good, easy aquarium plant, resembling an Ammannia/former Nesaea in the submerged form.

The likely Veronica americana in mythin's photos looks more similar to my found anagallis-aquatica (Germany, Lower Saxonia) than to the V. catenata (I'll try to find again my photos...).

@Cavan: Couldn't find explicite info about the differences between americana and anagallis-aquatica in the web. Can you recommend literature or a website about that?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I'll try to remember the key I used when I IDed some a while ago. Flora of North America maybe? May be on efloras. 

Sticking with my original answer.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Great, there's a Veronica key on newenglandwild.org: https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/dkey/veronica/#all
Leaves with short but evident petioles => V. americana and V. beccabunga
Leaves of flowering stems sessile (and tending to have more flowers in the racemes) => V. anagallis-aquatica and V. catenata

According to "Schmeil-Fitschen, Flora von Deutschland" the lowermost leaves of Veronica anagallis-aquatica have short petioles, those of V. catenata are sessile. (upper leaves on flowering stems sessile in both species)


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