Waterwort

Elatine gratioloides

General information: The genus Elatine has 10 to 20 species world wide with only one occurring in Australia. It occurs along the margins of still or slow flowing water. In NSW it grows in unsown headlands and margins of rice crops but is not considered a problem.

Cultivation notes : Easy to grow in strong light. It spreads to most pots in the Aquagreen cultivation ponds putting a low cover over the surface of the pot then once there is no surface area to cover it commences erect growth habits. It does not appear too fussy about water quality growing well in temperatures from 18 deg to 32 deg C. Appears to do a little better below 25 Deg C. It responds well to CO2 fertilisation.

Distribution : It occurs in all states of Australia was well as New Zealand and Fiji. In the NT it is found on the Magela Creek and Adelaide River floodplains.

Selling details : sold in lots of 25 grams which is about the same weight as a normal bunch of aquarium plants.

Reference: Sainty & Jacobs ( 1981 ) "Waterplants of New South Wales". Cowie, Short, Osterkamp Madsen (2000) "Floodplain Flora, a flora of the floodplain of the Northern Territory, Australia"