Brookweed

Samolus valerandi

A small rosette of pale green spoon-shaped leaves. It grows on wet ground and in shallow water almost worldwide, in fresh water and in brackish, and it takes hard water without complaint.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Height: 10 – 15 cm (3.9 – 5.9 in)
Temperature: 4 – 35 °C (39 – 95 °F)

Native rangeRange on the map

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Austria
Azores
Baleares
Baltic States
Belgium
Botswana
Bulgaria
Canary Is.
Cape Provinces
Cape Verde
Chad
China South-Central
China Southeast
Corse
Cyprus
Czechia-Slovakia
DR Congo
Denmark
East Aegean Is.
Egypt
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
India
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
Kenya
Kirgizstan
Kriti
Krym
KwaZulu-Natal
Lebanon-Syria
Libya
Madeira
Mauritania
Morocco
Mozambique
NW. Balkan Pen.
Namibia
Netherlands
Nigeria
North Caucasus
Northern Provinces
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Sardegna
Saudi Arabia
Sicilia
Sinai
Somalia
Spain
Sudan-South Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Tadzhikistan
Transcaucasus
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Türkiye-in-Europe
Türkiye
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
West Himalaya
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Leaf colour: green, white markings
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: slow
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 6 – 9
Carbonate hardness: 7 – 30 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, nano tank +1 midground, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: seeds, division +1 seeds, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Light green leaves, rounded at the tip and tapering into the stalk, in a spreading rosette up to 15 cm across. Above water it sends up a tall stalk of small white flowers.

Keeping

Moderate demands and slow growth. It wants medium to strong light and tolerates hard, alkaline water better than most aquarium plants — one of the few worth trying where the tap water is very hard. It also grows in slightly brackish water.

Placement

The front or middle of the tank, singly or in a small group. Its size suits a nano tank.

Propagation

By dividing an established rosette, and from the seed it sets when grown above water.

Water conditions match

The water suits 990 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.

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

Other varieties: Samolus valerandi Topf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Samolus floribundus Kunth, Samolus parviflorus Raf., Anagallis aquatica, Samolus americanus, Samolus aquaticus, Samolus beccabungae-facie, Samolus bracteatus, Samolus bracteolosus, Samolus caulescens, Samolus geniculatus, Samolus littoralis, Samolus valerandi submersa, Samolus valerandi terrestris, Samolus valerandi valerandi, Samolus valerandi africanus, Samolus valerandi typicus
Samolus valerandi: L.
Family: Primulaceae
Conservation status: LC

Brookweed

Tank conditions

Care and keeping