Rice Paddy Herb

Limnophila aromatica

A stem plant from flooded rice fields with star-shaped whorls of narrow leaves and a purple underside. In bright light it turns pink and magenta; in dim light it stays a plain olive green.

Light: high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 15 – 30 °C (59 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: fast
pH: 6 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 12 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +2 background, midground, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow leaves with toothed edges sit in whorls around the stem, so each level looks like a small green star. Colour depends entirely on light: from olive above and violet beneath to almost wholly ruby.

Keeping

It wants strong light — that is the whole condition, and without it the plant lives but loses its colour and stretches. Fertiliser and carbon dioxide make growth denser. Grown above water in an open tank the leaves are fragrant; the plant is a kitchen herb in Southeast Asia.

Placement

The middle and back of the tank in a group of several stems; the shorter forms suit the front of a nano tank. Nothing should shade it.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem, strip the lowest whorls and plant it. The cut stem branches out, which is how the group thickens.

Water conditions match

The water suits 816 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Limnophila aromatica 'Mini'

Other varieties: Limnophila aromatica Wavy, Limnophila aromatica ''Kalimantan Mini'', Limnophila sp. 'Mini'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ambulia aromatica Lam., Gratiola aromatica (Lam.) Pers., Limnophila chinensis subsp. aromatica (Lam.) T. Yamaz., Limnophila gratissima Blume, Limnophila punctata Blume, Ambuli gratissima, Ambulia aromatica, Ambulia gratissima, Antirrhinum aquaticum, Gratiola aromatica, Limnophila aromaticoides, Limnophila chamaedrifolia, Limnophila chinensis aromatica, Limnophila chinensis scaberrima, Limnophila gratissima, Limnophila punctata, Limnophila punctata subracemosa, Stemodia punctata, Terebinthina aromatica, Terebinthina aromatica punctata
Limnophila aromatica: (Lam.) Merr.
Family: Plantaginaceae
Conservation status: LC

Rice Paddy Herb

Tank conditions

Care and keeping