Aquarium plants

Needle-leaf Pipewort

Eriocaulaceae

Eriocaulon setaceum

A tall pipewort with white needle-thin leaves and dozens of side shoots, from the waters of Southeast Asia and Australia. One of the plants people build a whole tank around.

Noble Fissidens

Fissidentaceae

Fissidens nobilis

A large, stiff moss whose shoots look like little fern or palm fronds — the leaves sit in two rows in one plane. Slow, striking, and often confused with its smaller relative.

The green-leaved form of the tiger lotus: the underwater leaves are green with dark spots or streaks, while in the 'rot' form they are red. Often in the trade, and easy to get from other aquarists too.

Nymphaea lotus 'rot'

Nymphaeaceae

Nymphaea lotus

The red tiger lotus is the most popular water lily in the hobby: red underwater leaves with dark spots or stripes. The 'green' form is a related green-leaved form with the same dark spots.

Octopus Pogostemon

Lamiaceae

Pogostemon quadrifolius

Long narrow leaves in loose whorls that curl outward like tentacles — hence the nickname. A close relative of the star pogostemon, and far simpler to grow.

Oldenlandia

Rubiaceae

Oldenlandia salzmannii

A simple green stem plant from South America, close in look to the common bacopa: bright stalks with small paired leaves. Undemanding, quick, and still rare in shops.

Orchid Lily

Nymphaeaceae

Barclaya longifolia

A bulb plant with long wine-red leaves that shimmer as the light moves. One of the most striking centrepieces in the hobby, and one that dislikes being disturbed.

Oval Ludwigia

Onagraceae

Ludwigia ovalis

Rounded leaves running through gold, orange and pink as the light gets stronger. Unlike other ludwigias its leaves sit singly along the stem, which gives the group a lighter look.

Palawan Crypt

Araceae

Cryptocoryne palawanensis

A small water trumpet from the Philippine islands of Palawan and Busuanga, long mistaken for another dwarf species. It is kept exactly like the familiar Sri Lankan crypts.

Pantanal Ludwigia

Onagraceae

Ludwigia inclinata

Fine orange-red leaves radiating from the stem in wheels. One of the most beautiful red plants in the hobby, and one that tells you immediately when anything is wrong.

Parrot's Feather

Haloragaceae

Myriophyllum aquaticum

Feathery whorls of finely divided leaves on a fast stem — the classic soft green backdrop. It grows quickly and eats up the nutrients that algae would otherwise take.

Pearl Moss

Mniaceae

Plagiomnium affine

One of several mosses sold as pearl moss, and a true moss rather than a liverwort: its rounded leaves have a clear midrib running to the tip, which the liverworts never have.

Pearl Moss

Solenostomataceae

Solenostoma tetragonum

A liverwort from Borneo with small round translucent leaves that build a dense dark green cushion. Under good light it holds strings of oxygen bubbles between the leaves — hence the name.

Pearlweed

Linderniaceae

Micranthemum glomeratum

Small arched leaves on thin stems, like a miniature elodea. Under strong light it trails along the bottom and works as a foreground plant; in dim light it climbs.

Pellia

Monosoleniaceae

Monosolenium tenerum

A liverwort that looks like a giant riccia which never floats: thick dark green lobes forming cushions on the bottom. Undemanding once it is anchored — and brittle until then.

Phoenix Moss

Fissidentaceae

Fissidens fontanus

A dense deep green moss whose shoots look like little feathers. It grows downward as readily as sideways, so a stone covered in it looks like it is dripping green.

Piauí Sword

Alismataceae

Aquarius decumbens

A tall sword plant with very narrow, long-stalked leaves, found in a single river in eastern Brazil. Its airy shape lets you see the background through it, which few large plants allow.

Pinnate Hygrophila

Acanthaceae

Hygrophila pinnatifida

An unusual plant with deeply cut brown-olive leaves and a wine-red underside. It is the rare stem plant that grows tied to wood or stone as well as in the substrate.

Pipewort

Eriocaulaceae

Eriocaulon cinereum

A small cushion of very narrow leaves that flowers readily under water, sending up a crowd of thin stalks. Rare, striking and genuinely hard to keep.

Pondweed

Potamogetonaceae

Potamogeton gayi

Thin soft stems with narrow leaves, green to orange-brown depending on the light. It spreads by runners across the substrate and grows fast in almost any water.

Purple Ambulia

Plantaginaceae

Limnophila hippuridoides

Narrow leaves in whorls, green above and red-violet underneath — the whole plant turns violet when conditions suit it. Simple to grow and adaptable.

Purple Bacopa

Plantaginaceae

Bacopa salzmannii

The one bacopa that is not green: rounded, slightly fleshy leaves in purple and magenta on a straight stem. Colour that does not require a high-tech tank.

Pygmy Chain Sword

Alismataceae

Helanthium tenellum

A small grass-like rosette that spreads by runners into a low green carpet. One of the few carpets that manage without carbon dioxide, though it does want light reaching the bottom.

Queen Moss

Sematophyllaceae

Hydropogonella gymnostoma

One of the very few aquarium mosses from South America, collected around Manaus and identified only in 2013. Still uncommon, and quietly beautiful.

Red Cabomba

Cabombaceae

Cabomba furcata

Feathery whorls of needle-thin leaves in crimson and wine red — like small red pines standing in the substrate. The most beautiful cabomba and the hardest one to keep.

Red Lagenandra

Araceae

Lagenandra meeboldii

Broad oval leaves in dusty green, violet and red-violet, often all on the same leaf; new leaves come up pale pink. Kept exactly like a water trumpet, but the colour is its own.

Red Ludwigia

Onagraceae

Ludwigia repens

The easiest red plant in the hobby: it turns copper and deep red under decent light without carbon dioxide, which most red plants refuse to do. A group of it is the simplest way to break up an all-green tank.

Red Murdannia

Commelinaceae

Murdannia engelsii

Thin, strongly waved, half-transparent leaves in greenish yellow through brown-red to pink, with darker veins running across them like marbling. Described as a species only in 2016.

Red Root Floater

Phyllanthaceae

Phyllanthus fluitans

A floating plant with heart-shaped leaves and crimson roots hanging beneath. Under strong light the leaves themselves turn red — the only floater in the catalogue that does that.

Red Water Lily

Nymphaeaceae

Nymphaea rubra

A tropical water lily from India with red night-opening flowers. Grown from a tuber, it is quick and undemanding, and in an aquarium it is kept for its leaves rather than its blooms.

Red Watermilfoil

Haloragaceae

Myriophyllum tuberculatum

Red and orange needles arranged like the branches of a small conifer. Striking, and one of the hungriest plants in the hobby.

Red-stem Parrot's Feather

Haloragaceae

Myriophyllum rubricaule

The parrot's feather with red stems, sold for decades as a pond plant before anyone settled what it was. Known only from cultivation, and very fast in a tank.

Rice Paddy Herb

Plantaginaceae

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.

River Buttercup

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus inundatus

Leaves cut into narrow fingers on upright stalks, like a stand of tiny green umbrellas. Unlike most carpets it grows in height as well as width, and looks like nothing else in a tank.

Robinson's Aponogeton

Aponogetonaceae

Aponogeton robinsonii

A bulb plant from the slow, very soft rivers of Vietnam and Laos. Two rather different plants travel under this name: one makes floating leaves, the other long wavy ribbons under water.