I’ve been keeping Phyllanthus fluitans since I obtained it from the 2004 AGA convention’s silent auction in Washington, DC. This has been the nitrate sucker in my 54G, giving gradually increasing shade to my anubias and crypts in that tank. I say “gradually increasing shade” because at every water change I compost all but a handful of the floating plant, and by the next water change two weeks later it’s usually covering the water surface.

Ever since I started mixing 10,000K and 6400K bulbs over that tank, the Phyllanthus fluitans has started flowering. I decided to pull out my Kenko 68mm extension tubes with my 100mm macro lense to try and get a good close-up shot. This flower is only 1-2mm across in diameter.

In June, when I went down to Florida with a few other GWAPA members, Bacopa monnieri was one of the plants that seemed to be everywhere, from the rest area drainage ditch when we entered the state, to the canals of Miami down south. Most of the time, we found it emersed and flowering like this picture below.

Despite its abundance, I honestly didn’t know I grabbed any until after I got my plants home, and found a single stem in among some of the other things I brought back. I decided to plant it, and see how it would turn out. A few months later, it bushed up very nicely, and is one of the few plants that I collected that I think I’ll try to incorporate into my next scape. It provides a really bright green color to the tank, which I like. Below is an isolated picture of a stem or two. I believe that Bacopa monnieri is quite common in hobby, but if you haven’t tried it yet, give it a whirl. It doesn’t seem to be a demanding plant, so it should do well in most planted tanks.

Along with the Ludwigia that’s flowering, my Limnophila aromatica has been flowering for almost a month now outside in my pond. Each stem sends out a number of flower buds at each node. Then, the buds open to reveal these pretty little purple flowers. The flowers themselves are only about 3/4″ long and about 1/3″ from petal to petal, with the tiny little hairs that you can see in the picture. I often see some of the smaller bees visiting these flowers.

While in Peru, the pond foliage has absolutely exploded in quantity. The frog bite has claimed 100% of the water surface, while what I think is Ludwigia brevipes is creeping along the edge of the pond. Much to my delight, it is also flowering with these pretty little yellow flowers.

The flowers themselves seem quite delicate and don’t last more than a day or two, especially with the rain we’ve been having the past couple of days. To give you an idea, these flowers are probably smaller than a U.S. dime in size. I’ve never had a Ludwigia flower underwater, so I’m quite pleased to be able to see it emersed. I hope you enjoy the photos.

As I’ve mentioned this spring, I put frogbite out in my pond to help cover the water’s surface. An interesting thing happens out in the pond, that doesn’t usually happen inside in my aquariums — it gets huge! The roots burrow into the substrate, which when supply all the nutrients it needs to propel the leaves off of the water’s surface, and into the air. Usually, in the aquarium, the leaves have very little stem, and form a tight circular group at each node stretching across the surface. I’ve got stems that 4-5 inches long, standing upright with huge leaves on the end out in the pond.

Also, on the water surface, the underside of the leaves has a bulbous growth near the stem. When out of the water, this seems to disappear somewhat. There are still leaves growing across the surface, but as they age, they appear to extend toward the sky.

This, of course,  doesn’t seem to bother our newest inhabitant shown below, as he uses them for cover. Unlike his larger bullfrog cousin who is commonly seen sitting on the pond’s edge, he is a smaller frog, much like the ones I used to catch and release when I was growing up.