Nelsonia campestris

Nelsonia campestris

General information: Grows on the margins of creeks,rivers and billabongs. It grows down into the water but generally only near the edges. In the aquarium it is best used as a foreground plant. The photos above, numbers three and four were taken on a small creek seven kilometers east of the Goyder River where the Nelsonia was growing submerse. The red plants among the Nelsonia are Hygrophila angustifolia.

Cultivation notes : It likes high light levels to maintain its prostrate growth habit, if the light is not bright enough it will start to grow up toward light source. Not fussy about water quality, does best in warmer water with CO2 pH control and very bright lighting. At Aquagreen it is grown in shallow water under 70% shade cloth.

Distribution : Tropical NT, WA and Qld within Australia, according to Cowie it is probably in New Guinea.

Selling details : Sold in bunches of cut stems.

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