by booth-at-lvld.hp.com ()
Date: 28 Feb 1994
A couple of months ago, Shaji Bhaskar posted that he found some
Mexican Oak Leaf and was wondering if other folks had had any luck
with it. We bought some about the same time and have tried it in all
of our tanks. Here is my report.
One of the plant wholesalers recently began importing or growing the
plant and it is finally available in retail stores. We have been
trying to find this plant for 5 years, so we were quite excited when
some finally turned up (yeah, I know, "get a life").
The scientific name of Mexican Oak Leaf is _Trichoronis_rivularis_ and
is only described in the Barry James book (as far as I know). You may
find it at your local pet purveyor under other names (I am not making
this up): Acorn Hygro, Sombrero Fern, Loop Leafed Rotala, Fajita
Plant, Yucatan Hygro, Acapulco Rose or Acorn Val.
This plant has responded well in three of our four tanks. It is
slowly aclimating to the less-than-optimum conditions on our lowly 55
gallon tank. By "responding well" I mean, well, weed-like. Yes,
Mexican Oak Leaf seems to like CO2.
It is doing the best in the warmer discus tank (82F). It is kind of
leggy in all the tanks, but the leaves are larger in the warmer water.
You need quite a few stems of this planted close together to get a
nice affect. If you only get 3-4 stems in an order don't worry, be
happy. Once it gets going, pinch the tops and it will get bushy.
It looks especially nice in an open top tank. Once it hits the
surface, the leaves start to bunch together and form nice rose-like
clumps. Very nice.
Joe Bob gives it 3 stars. Git some.
=============================================================================
George L. Booth The Technology of Freshwater Plant Tanks
booth-at-hplvec.lvld.hp.com __ Aquatic Gardener's Association
Software Development Engineer / \ /\ Colorado Aquarium Society
Manufacturing Test Division /\/ \/ \ Rainbowfish Study Group
Hewlett-Packard Company / \/\ / \/\ "Modern Aquascaping"
Loveland, Colorado _____utah__/ \ \/ \ \___me____________kansas_____
=============================================================================
by bhaskar-at-brtph181.bnr.ca (Shaji Bhaskar)
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994
In article <2ktge0$eu4-at-hplvec.lvld.hp.com> booth-at-lvld.hp.com () writes:
>The scientific name of Mexican Oak Leaf is _Trichoronis_rivularis_ and
>is only described in the Barry James book (as far as I know).
I did a bit of brute-force searching through my books, and Ines
Scheurmann has a plant listed under the nsme "Shinnerisa rivularis"
(or something close) that seems to be the same plant.
>This plant has responded well in three of our four tanks. It is
>slowly aclimating to the less-than-optimum conditions on our lowly 55
>gallon tank. By "responding well" I mean, well, weed-like. Yes,
>Mexican Oak Leaf seems to like CO2.
I agree. It has been doing very well in my CO2-injected tank. I
bought four stems around the same time as George, and I had enough
growth to sell three bunches of the stuff yesterday at the Raleigh
Aquarium Society's annual auction.
>It is doing the best in the warmer discus tank (82F). It is kind of
>leggy in all the tanks, but the leaves are larger in the warmer water.
When it is leggy, it looks like Hygro polysperma.
>Joe Bob gives it 3 stars. Git some.
I like it, too. It is as easy to grow as Hygrp polysperma, and looks
better.
Shaji
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaji Bhaskar bhaskar-at-bnr.ca
BNR, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA (919) 991 7125
by booth-at-lvld.hp.com ()
Date: 28 Feb 1994
Thomas Narten (narten-at-percival.cs.albany.edu) wrote:
> How about a description.
OK. The following description is courtesy of T. Narten:
It presumably gets its name from its leaves, which are somewhat like
oak leave in shape. I wouldn't exactly call it lobed, though it almost
is. It has two "lobes" on each side of the tip, Leaves are about 1-1.5
inches long, .3-.75 inches wide.
It's stemmy (like h. polysperma) and sometimes the leaves get long and
thin (lanceolate) with almost no lobes. When it reaches the surface,
the leaves start bunching together and from above it forms something
not unlike a rose. The leaves also turn a brownish-red, more brown than
red.
:-)
> And to think I may have been reguarly
> throwing out something people have been trying to get, while I still
> haven't been able to track down the rotala macrantha everyone raves
> about.
Try Rotala macrandra, red leafed rotala, floppy leafed red hygro, Macrame
rotola, rotary hygro and variants of that theme. You just have to ask
for the right stuff ...
"Water oak". Didn't think of that one.
=============================================================================
George L. Booth The Technology of Freshwater Plant Tanks
booth-at-hplvec.lvld.hp.com __ Aquatic Gardener's Association
Software Development Engineer / \ /\ Colorado Aquarium Society
Manufacturing Test Division /\/ \/ \ Rainbowfish Study Group
Hewlett-Packard Company / \/\ / \/\ "Modern Aquascaping"
Loveland, Colorado _____utah__/ \ \/ \ \___me____________kansas_____
=============================================================================
by narten-at-percival.cs.albany.edu (Thomas Narten)
Date: 28 Feb 1994
In article <2ktge0$eu4-at-hplvec.lvld.hp.com> booth-at-lvld.hp.com () writes:
> The scientific name of Mexican Oak Leaf is _Trichoronis_rivularis_ and
> is only described in the Barry James book (as far as I know).
How about a description. I bought a plant back in the summer called
"water oak". It is one of only about 3 plants I have that I haven't
been able to positively identify. It presumably gets its name from
its leaves, which are somewhat like oak leave in shape. I wouldn't
exactly call it lobed, though it almost is. It has two "lobes" on
each side of the tip, Leaves are about 1-1.5 inches long, .3-.75 inches
wide.
My plants grow like weeds in my CO2 tank. It's stemmy (like
h. polysperma) and sometimes the leaves get long and thin (lanceolate)
with almost no lobes. When it reaches the surface, the leaves start
bunching together and from above it forms something not unlike a
rose. The leaves also turn a brownish-red, more brown than red.
Does this sound familiar? And to think I may have been reguarly
throwing out something people have been trying to get, while I still
haven't been able to track down the rotala macrantha everyone raves
about.
--
Thomas Narten
narten-at-cs.albany.edu
The Krib
Plants
Plants 