No common name

Rotala occultiflora

General information: It appears very similar to Rotala mexicana except it is pale green in colour. The forms cultivated are from Pine Creek NT and far north Qld. If you look at photo 4 you can see the NT form has much broader leaves than the Qld form. The NT form was found in sandy soil off the floodplain in granite country.

Cultivation notes : water temp about 27 deg C, soft water, CO2 fertilisation, pH neutral. The substrate where the original plant was collected is sandy. It does better in very bright light in the aquarium to keep the nice fine leaves. When conditions are not quite optimum it produces smaller round leaves. It also produces these round leaves when emergent. See photograph three for the emergent form.

Distribution : India and North Australia where it occurs in NT, WA and Qld.

Selling details : sold as a bunch of cut stems tied at the base.

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