Dwarf Ambulia

Limnophila sessiliflora

Feathery whorls of soft green leaves on a fast stem — the look of cabomba without cabomba's demands. It grows in dim light and without carbon dioxide, which makes it a rare thing among feathery plants.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 15 – 30 cm (5.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 15 – 28 °C (59 – 82 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: very fast
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 5 – 8
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 21 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Whorls of finely divided leaves ring the stem every centimetre or so, giving the plant a soft, fluffy outline. Stems reach 15–30 cm and stand upright without support.

Keeping

Easy and quick. Dim light is tolerated, but then the stem stretches and the gaps between whorls widen — the usual sign that it wants either more light or a shorter stem. It grows fast enough to need cutting back every few weeks.

Placement

The back of the tank, in a group: a single stem looks thin, several make a soft green screen. In good conditions it also creeps along the bottom and starts new stems there.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem and plant it — roots follow within days. The cut stem branches and gives two new tips.

Water conditions match

The water suits 999 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Zebra Mbuna

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 Spined Loach Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly 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 Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

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

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Ambulia sessiliflora, Benjaminia glabra, Hottonia sessiliflora, Limnophila griffithii, Limnophila sessiliflora, Limnophila taoyuanensis, Stemodia sessiliflora, Stemodiacra sessiliflora, Terebinthina sessiliflora
Limnophila sessiliflora: (Vahl) Blume
Family: Plantaginaceae
Conservation status: LC