Aquarium plants
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African Liverwort
Plagiochilaceae
Plagiochila integerrima
A large leafy liverwort from tropical Africa and Madagascar, growing beside forest streams. Its shoots look more like narrow fern fronds than moss — and it comes from the same rivers as anubias.
African Onion Plant
Amaryllidaceae
Crinum calamistratum
Very narrow, tightly curled dark green leaves growing out of a bulb — like green ribbons twisted along their whole length. Undemanding, and fish do not eat it.
African Water Fern
Dryopteridaceae
Bolbitis heudelotii
A fern from fast West African rivers, with dark, almost translucent leaves of an unusual crinkled shape. It grows on wood and stone and is worth the extra care it asks for.
Afzelius's Anubias
Araceae
Anubias afzelii
The first anubias ever described, and one of the largest: long leathery leaves on a strong rhizome. Undemanding to the point of dullness, in the best sense.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Kleines Papageienblatt'
Amaranthaceae
Alternanthera reineckii
A small-leaved form of Alternanthera reineckii. It was long considered the hobby's 'original' form of the species, but today it has been almost pushed out of the trade by the brighter 'Lilacina' and 'Rosaefolia'.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Lilacina'
Amaranthaceae
Alternanthera reineckii
The classic red cultivar of Alternanthera reineckii: the leaf is light to deep red above and intensely purple below. In the trade since the 1960s, also known as 'Lila' and 'Purple'.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Amaranthaceae
Alternanthera reineckii
A dwarf form of Alternanthera reineckii: underwater it forms low, compact clumps of a deep brownish-red colour. One of the few red plants for the foreground.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosaefolia'
Amaranthaceae
Alternanthera reineckii
The most widely sold red form of Alternanthera reineckii, also known as 'Alternanthera rosaefolia', 'Rosa' and 'Pink'. The leaf edge is wavy, the underside purple.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosanervig'
Amaranthaceae
Alternanthera reineckii
An intensely red cultivar of Alternanthera reineckii with a distinctive leaf pattern: the tissue around the veins is lighter than the rest of the blade, ranging from deep pink to ruby red. Also sold as 'Red Ruby'.
Amazon Frogbit
Hydrocharitaceae
Hydrocharis laevigata
A floating plant with round leaves the size of a coin and long trailing roots. It shades the tank from above, takes nutrients straight out of the water and gives surface fish something to hide under.
Amazon Sword
Alismataceae
Aquarius grisebachii
The large rosette plant that has stood in the middle of tanks for decades: broad light-green leaves, an easy temper and a size that needs a real aquarium. One plant is enough to fill a background.
Anacharis
Hydrocharitaceae
Elodea densa
A fast green stem plant from South America, sold in bunches almost everywhere. It grows in a new tank from the first week and takes up so much nourishment that algae are left with little.
Anubias barteri var. angustifolia
Araceae
Anubias barteri
The narrowest-leaved variety of Anubias barteri: the blades are linear to very narrowly elliptic, with a straight edge. It is often sold under the mistaken name 'Anubias afzelii'.
Anubias barteri var. barteri
Araceae
Anubias barteri
A common and popular variety of Anubias barteri, growing in the wild on stones and tree trunks by shaded, fast-flowing rivers of West Africa. Among the anubias it is one of the fastest-growing.
Anubias barteri var. caladiifolia
Araceae
Anubias barteri
The largest variety of Anubias barteri: blades up to 24 cm, deeply heart-shaped at the base in older plants, with leaf stalks that can exceed 40 cm. Its difficulty level is easy, not very easy as for the species.
Anubias barteri var. coffeifolia
Araceae
Anubias barteri
A form of Anubias barteri with a bumpy leaf surface: ridges rise between the veins, giving the leaf the look of a coffee-plant leaf — hence the name var. coffeifolia, sold under the name 'Coffeefolia'.
Anubias barteri var. glabra
Araceae
Anubias barteri
A variety of Anubias barteri with elliptic to lanceolate leaves, widespread in the West African tropics, from Guinea to Gabon. In the trade it is also found as 'Anubias minima' and 'Anubias lanceolata'.
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Golden Heart'
Araceae
Anubias barteri
A cultivar of dwarf anubias (var. nana) with young leaves yellow-green to lemon yellow, turning green with age. It grows even more slowly than var. nana.
Arrowhead Crypt
Araceae
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
A tall water trumpet with broad arrowhead leaves on long stalks. It grows well on substrate alone — no bright light, no carbon dioxide, no dosing.
Asian Watermoss
Salviniaceae
Salvinia cucullata
A floating fern with small cupped leaves that hold air like tiny bowls. It has no long roots, so it shades a tank without curtaining it off.
Bacopa monnieri 'Compact'
Plantaginaceae
Bacopa monnieri
A cultivar of Bacopa monnieri that branches heavily underwater and forms compact little bushes, holding its shape well when trimmed. Also sold as 'Bacopa compacta'.
Bacopa monnieri 'Rundblättrig'
Plantaginaceae
Bacopa monnieri
A cultivar of Bacopa monnieri with distinctly rounded leaves — in other forms of the species they are oblong-spatulate. In leaf shape it resembles Rotala indica, which is confused with Ammannia sp. 'Bonsai'.
Balansa Water Trumpet
Araceae
Cryptocoryne crispatula
Long ribbon leaves with a hammered, bubbled surface that sway in the current like reeds. It comes from limestone rivers, so hard water — the sort most plants dislike — is exactly what it wants.
Banana Plant
Menyanthaceae
Nymphoides aquatica
A small plant with a cluster of swollen roots that really do look like a bunch of bananas. Those tubers store food, which is why it survives where other plants starve.
Barth's Sword
Alismataceae
Echinodorus barthii
A garden variety of sword plant whose young leaves come up dark red and darken to green with age, so the rosette holds both colours at once.
Beckett's Water Trumpet
Araceae
Cryptocoryne beckettii
A rosette plant from the streams of Sri Lanka, with olive leaves that are wine-red underneath. It grows in dim light and hard water, and once settled it needs almost nothing.
Bladderwort Carpet
Lentibulariaceae
Utricularia graminifolia
A carpet plant that is also a carnivore: on its roots sit tiny bladders that catch water fleas. It makes one of the finest green lawns in the hobby and is famously tricky to establish.
Blue Moneywort
Linderniaceae
Lindernia grandiflora
A creeping marsh plant from Florida with small round leaves, grown in gardens for its blue and white flowers and, more recently, under water in aquariums.
Blyxa
Hydrocharitaceae
Blyxa japonica
A grass-like plant that grows in loose rosettes and moves with the flow. In bright light with fertiliser it turns golden and bronze, which is why it became a signature plant of Japanese-style tanks.
Blyxa japonica var. alternifolia
Hydrocharitaceae
Blyxa japonica
A variety of Blyxa japonica with a distinct long upright stem — unlike the bushy, almost rosette-forming var. japonica. Rare in the hobby and harder to keep than the species.
Blyxa japonica var. japonica
Hydrocharitaceae
Blyxa japonica
The variety that in the hobby and the trade is known simply as Blyxa japonica — the 'real' Japanese blyxa. Unlike var. alternifolia it forms an almost rosette-shaped clump without a long upright stem.
Bog Moss
Mayacaceae
Mayaca fluviatilis
Soft flexible stems thickly set with narrow bright-green leaves, like small pine sprigs in the current. It looks like the demanding feathery plants but keeps far easier.
Boivin's Aponogeton
Aponogetonaceae
Aponogeton boivinianus
A big bulb plant from the fast streams of Madagascar, with heavily ruffled dark leaves. In a large tank a single plant fills the back wall.
Bolbitis heteroclita 'cuspidata'
Dryopteridaceae
Bolbitis heteroclita
A small-growing form of dwarf African fern, collected on the Lamao river on the island of Luzon (Philippines). Unlike the large forms of the species, which are poorly suited to an aquarium, it has proven to be a good…
Bolbitis heteroclita 'difformis'
Dryopteridaceae
Bolbitis heteroclita
A dwarf form of dwarf African fern from the island of Negros (Philippines), described as far back as 1952 as a separate species, Edanyoa difformis. Underwater it grows very slowly, and its leaves are smaller and more…
Bolivian Chain Sword
Alismataceae
Helanthium bolivianum
A small light-green rosette that spreads by runners into a low lawn. It is a sword plant scaled down: the easy temper of the big ones with none of the size.
Brazilian Pennywort
Araliaceae
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Round leaves the size of a coin on long stalks — one of the fastest and least demanding plants in the hobby. Plant it, float it, or let it climb out of the tank.
Broad-leaf Water Sprite
Pteridaceae
Ceratopteris cornuta
The broad-leaved water sprite: a fast fern that grows planted or floating and takes nutrients out of the water as quickly as it grows. A standby in breeding and shrimp tanks.
Brookweed
Primulaceae
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.
Brown's Limnophila
Plantaginaceae
Limnophila brownii
An Australian marsh plant of the ambulia family, still rare in aquariums. Fast growing, like most of its genus, and undemanding about water.
Cardinal Plant
Campanulaceae
Lobelia cardinalis
A slow, tidy plant with round leaves of a bright light green, one of the few that keeps its shape for months without pruning. It grows in the middle of the tank and in the front of a large one.
Caribbean Mint
Lamiaceae
Clinopodium brownei
Light green paired leaves on a square stem — a mint, and it smells like one when bruised. Sold for years under the wrong name, and easier to grow than most of what it is mistaken for.
Carolina Micro Sword
Apiaceae
Lilaeopsis carolinensis
Short grass-like blades in small tufts, spreading by runners into a lawn. Native to both American continents, and undemanding except about one thing: light must reach the bottom.
Carolina Mosquito Fern
Azollaceae
Azolla caroliniana
A tiny floating fern that covers the surface in a green carpet, often edged with pink and red. Very fast, and just as fast to cover a tank completely.
Ceratophyllum demersum 'Mexiko' ('Rotstängelig')
Ceratophyllaceae
Ceratophyllum demersum
A form of hornwort from Lake Catemaco in the Mexican state of Veracruz: the stems are densely brownish-red rather than green, as in ordinary hornwort, and the plant is more delicate and branches more heavily.
Christmas Moss
Hypnaceae
Vesicularia vesicularis
A moss whose side branches grow in even rows, so each shoot looks like a small fir branch. Slower and more demanding than java moss, and much neater.
Cognac Ammannia
Lythraceae
Ammannia crassicaulis
Narrow leaves the colour of cognac — reddish brown with a copper cast, a shade almost no other aquarium plant has. It is beautiful and it is fussy.
Congo Anubias
Araceae
Anubias heterophylla
The large anubias: leaves up to a span long on tall stalks. Same easy temper as its smaller relatives, but it needs a big tank to look right.
Creeping Jenny
Primulaceae
Lysimachia nummularia
Round leaves like coins in pairs along a creeping stem. A garden pond plant that took to aquariums, undemanding and quick to soak up excess nitrate.
Creeping Rush
Juncaceae
Juncus repens
A grass-like plant with long stems and narrow leaves that turn reddish brown under strong light. Undemanding, and it grows in almost any water.
Creeping Spotflower
Asteraceae
Acmella repens
A small marsh plant from the American south with an upright, neatly symmetrical habit. New to the hobby, and easy — a compact stand-in for the far bigger plants it resembles.
Creeping Staurogyne
Acanthaceae
Staurogyne repens
A low, bushy plant from the Rio Cristalino in southern Amazonia, and one of the few carpets that a beginner can grow without carbon dioxide. It creeps rather than climbs, spreading sideways into a thick green mat.
Crinkled Aponogeton
Aponogetonaceae
Aponogeton crispus
A bulb plant from Sri Lanka with large, slightly translucent leaves and crimped edges. It grows quickly, needs no carbon dioxide and fills a background on its own.
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii Pink'
Araceae
Cryptocoryne beckettii
A selected form of 'Petchii' with light reddish to brownish leaves with a red underside and distinctly pink young leaves. Crypts usually run in dark brown-green tones, so this cultivar gives the genus a rare light…
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
Araceae
Cryptocoryne beckettii
A triploid form of Cryptocoryne beckettii from Sri Lanka, in the hobby for more than 60 years; originally described as a separate species, Cryptocoryne petchii — a name still in use in the trade.
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Viridifolia'
Araceae
Cryptocoryne beckettii
A green-leaved cultivar of Cryptocoryne beckettii (the name means 'green-leaved') — unlike the red-brown 'Petchii'. In the trade as a cultivar since 2013, with a stated height of 15–20 cm.
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
Araceae
Cryptocoryne crispatula
A variety from the limestone rivers and streams of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and southern China: narrow, hammered (bubbled) ribbon leaves are its main feature. Long popular, and sold under the old species name…