Hornwort

Ceratophyllum demersum

General information: Free floating or loosely attached to sediment. It gets tangled on lures while fishing in some top end billabongs. A good aquarium plant for algae cleanup. It is thought to have properties that defeat algae but it could be just that it grows rapidly and uses nutrients making them unavailable for algae. It is a good pond plant for the same reasons. It can be confused with Myriophyllum or cabomba at a glance.

Cultivation notes : An easy to propagate plant that can be used in many types of water but it prefers the harder waters of the floodplain areas. Not too fussy about light and can be grown in most aquaria without too much trouble.

Distribution : All continents except Antarctica. In the NT it is more common in the top end where it is found between the Victoria River and the Arafura Swamp. In billabongs, rivers and springs associated with the floodplains.

Selling details : Sold in lots of 25 grams, about the same weight as a normal bunch of aquarium plants.

Reference: Cowie, Short & Osterkamp Madsen ( 2000 ) "Floodplain Flora, a flora of the floodplain of the Northern Territory, Australia"