Hygrophila sp. 'Guinea' stinks! - Page 3 - Plant Physiology & Emersed Culture

Cavan Allen · 06-25-2009, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miremonster

Hi Cavan,
that's great - I believe i've got the same stinking Hygro species here! Obtained years ago in the nursery Hans Barth, Dessau (Germany) as an unidentified Hygro from Africa. It's growing emersed and has flowered in the Botan. garden of Göttingen. The flowers are bigger than those of H. corymbosa. Hans-Georg Kramer (Wedel near Hamburg) has grown it submersed, where it looks the same as in photos of H. sp. 'Guinea' in the www. I've sent living stalks and photos of flowers to Dr. Josef Bogner (Munich), he already told me which species it may be, but I don't find again my note..
I'll post photos of flowers and try to make specimens if it's flowering again.

Do let us know if you find that note. I have the name of a guy at Kew who might be able to help and am trying to flower my specimen for that now. So it will be a race.

Unless you find the note...

I've pretty much come up empty on this one myself. Specimens and written material for African stuff seem to be hard to find.

Cavan Allen · 06-25-2009, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miremonster

Do You have emersed and flowering plants of 'Bihar'? An ID may be possible, e.g. with Cook (1996) Aquatic and wetland plants of India.

I'm converting some now. I can already say that it doesn't appear to be like any of the plants in Cook. It retains pubescent stems submersed, which is very odd. I'll keep you posted.

ingg · 06-25-2009, 06:39 PM

Don't have it flowering, bought it in emersed form and watched it tranform in my tank. Rather unremarkable emersed, then watching new leaves come in was really neat.

Bugger is also substrate creeping on me, I need to cut the side shoots and try and stop it. It is not a small hygro!

Cavan Allen · 06-25-2009, 07:49 PM

I'm starting to wonder if it's really a Hygrophila.

miremonster · 06-28-2009, 07:32 AM

A little off-topic: yesterday I watched a presentation from Claus Christensen about a Tropica collection tour to Nepal, and there was shown a plant looking like the H. sp. 'Bihar' in a shallow stream, at quite low elevation on the foot of the Himalayas. I don't know if they collected also this plant.
The Indian state Bihar borders on Nepal.

miremonster · 06-30-2009, 05:59 PM

Pics of the African Hygro that smells like a billy goat, from last year. This flowering stem is not as strong as Cavan's specimen in the 1st posting, but the lower parts of the plant were bigger than the flowering ones. The plant is covered with short sticky glandular hairs.
(Scale: millimeters)

The corolla tube is about 1 inch long.

Top view at the lower lip. The throat has a structure looking like teeth pointing backward. (One half of this lip is stunted.)

Cavan Allen · 06-30-2009, 06:43 PM

That's interesting. My stem has no glandular hairs, at least not on the stem (I am not at home to check). But I know that the Hygrophila sp. 'Bold' can can have very obvious glandular hairs when young but not as it grows larger.

miremonster · 07-01-2009, 03:08 PM

Cavan,
is the stem of Your plant glabrous, or hairy but not glandular? May be I'm wrong with the glandular hairs, I'll look with an amplifier tomorrow. At least the stem of my stinking Hygro is hairy and sticky.

Hygrophila senegalensis seems to be a similar species, the flowers look somewhat different, and the emersed leaves are narrower: http://www.westafricanplants.sencken...e_id=14&id=834
http://www.aluka.org/action/showComp...A.SENEGALENSIS
According to "Flora of West Tropical Africa" "the lower leaves become pinnatifid, like those of Myriophyllum, if submerged": http://www.aluka.org/action/showMeta....FWTA6776&pgs=
Probably also interesting for submersed cultivation.

EDIT: Submerged or submersed - what's correct? Both?

miremonster · 07-07-2009, 11:40 AM

OK, I've checked the emersed African Hygro again - the hairs on the stem are glandular, the leaves have glandular and simple hairs.