[tirtha1979]

Glossostigma elatinoides is the most popular fore ground plant in our hobby. But I found, Glossostigma cleistanthum can be much more attractive if grown successfully, cause it is almost 1/4th size of the glossostigma elatinoides and make a very low compact carpet. Glossostigma cleistanthum also erroneously identified as Glossostigma diandrum before. Common name for the plant is 'Mud Mat' and it is native to India.

Couple of days back I got a small patch of Glossostigma cleistanthum and started multiplying it in a small tray.

Substrate: Mix of Sand and Aquasoil 2
Kept at balcony where it will not get direct sunlight and can enjoy the monsoon.

After planting them, the old plants melted away and blessed me with new growths.

And after one month I can see runners are going everywhere in the tray to start forming the carpet.

Does anyone have any prior experience growing this plant? Please share.

 

[miremonster]

Interesting... I don't have this plant, but according to this site it occurs as neophyte in the eastern U.S.:
http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Nonindigenous_Species/Glossostigma/glossostigma.html
They write: "Glossostigma cleistanthum likely entered the Mid-Atlantic region as an escape from aquarium culture, where plants are valued as ornamentals."

The U.S. Glossostigma cleistanthum was misidentified as G. diandrum: http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/6/927.full
And "Glossostigma diandra" occurs in aquarium literature: http://www.webcityof.com/miffapimore.php?id=608&name=<I>Glossostigma+diandra</I>&value=123

 

[Cavan Allen]

I can virtually assure you that it did NOT arrive in the US as an escape from culture for the simple reason that any of us here who have tried to cultivate it have failed. High light and nutrient poor water seem to be its primary requirements, but even if you try as hard as you can, you only postpone the inevitable decline that soon follows. It's a neat looking plant, but to keep it alive, much less have it thrive, is a real accomplishment. I don't mean to say successful culture is impossible, but we have a really good club here with some good growers, and nobody could do much with it.

 

[SOLOMON]

A member of our forum collected some G. cleistanthum, there are some good photos here: http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/12348-trip-to-the-snowy-mountains-aquatic-IDs-P
post no. 10.

You may also wish to look at the herbarium page for Glossostigma in NSW, includes G. elatine, G. cleistanthum and G. diandrum http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=gn&name=Glossostigma

 

[Zapins]

Hmm, all too often it seems like the better looking plants are impossible to grow or just don't like growing submersed...

 

[tirtha1979]

Interesting... I don't have this plant, but according to this site it occurs as neophyte in the eastern U.S.:
http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Nonindigenous_Species/Glossostigma/glossostigma.html
They write: "Glossostigma cleistanthum likely entered the Mid-Atlantic region as an escape from aquarium culture, where plants are valued as ornamentals."

The U.S. Glossostigma cleistanthum was misidentified as G. diandrum: http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/6/927.full
And "Glossostigma diandra" occurs in aquarium literature: http://www.webcityof.com/miffapimore.php?id=608&name=<I>Glossostigma+diandra</I>&value=123

Yeh the same links I also have gone through. I was trying to find out all the locations where this plant is native to. Could not find India or Asia anywhere. But we found this growing away from locality in some puddles many times. And I am really confused about the cleistanthum and diandrum. Are the same or different?

I can virtually assure you that it did NOT arrive in the US as an escape from culture for the simple reason that any of us here who have tried to cultivate it have failed. High light and nutrient poor water seem to be its primary requirements, but even if you try as hard as you can, you only postpone the inevitable decline that soon follows. It's a neat looking plant, but to keep it alive, much less have it thrive, is a real accomplishment. I don't mean to say successful culture is impossible, but we have a really good club here with some good growers, and nobody could do much with it.

Cavan.... thanks for sharing the experience. This is the first time I am trying to grow this so don't have any first hand experience about the requirements and growth pattern.

Just to confirm that I got it correct, did you mean it needs high light and low ferts?

The guy who gave me this plant, some how managed to grow this in every environment. High tech, Low Tech, With CO2, Without CO2. And it's growing like weed in his tanks. Take a look at the below Picture. This is one of the many scapes where he is using this plant.

[/quote]

He is running the tank with No CO2 and with diffused Sunlight.

A member of our forum collected some G. cleistanthum, there are some good photos here: http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/12348-trip-to-the-snowy-mountains-aquatic-IDs-P
post no. 10.

You may also wish to look at the herbarium page for Glossostigma in NSW, includes G. elatine, G. cleistanthum and G. diandrum http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=gn&name=Glossostigma

Thanks a lot Solomon for the links and the pictures.

Hmm, all too often it seems like the better looking plants are impossible to grow or just don't like growing submersed...

Keeping my finger crossed to see some success with it.

 

[miremonster]

I was trying to find out all the locations where this plant is native to. Could not find India or Asia anywhere. But we found this growing away from locality in some puddles many times. And I am really confused about the cleistanthum and diandrum. Are the same or different?

Acc. to "The Plant List" they are different species, no synonyms: http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=glossostigma
About distinction between the 2 spp.: http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/6/927.full.pdf+html

Range of G. cleistanthum: apparently only Australia and New Zealand: https://sites.google.com/a/rsu5.org/invasive/message/glossostigma-glossostigma-cleistanthum
G. diandrum: Australia, N.Z., East Africa, India. http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Region_5_Report/html/emergent_plants.html
So Your plant occurring in the wild in India should be Glossostigma diandrum, if it really belongs to genus Glossostigma. The misidentification of G. cleistanthum as diandrum refers to the introduced plants in Eastern U.S. only.

So it seems that G. diandrum is a suitable aquarium plant, in contrast to G. cleistanthum.

 

[tirtha1979]

Sorry for being late with update.

Was able to grow them successfully in my Culture tray under Sunlight and using no CO2.

http://aquascape.co.in/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46&start=30

And now I have started a full scape using the same plants on ADA AS under pressurized CO2 and T5HO. Lets see how it goes.

 

[miremonster]

Hello Tirtha,

the non-CO2 tank above looks cool, has a very natural appearance. As it grows successfully also in Your tray it's apparently a suitable aq. plant. I'm looking forward how it will do under high tech conditions.
As I wrote above, IMHO Your plant collected in India is Glossostigma diandrum, not cleistanthum native of Australia and NZ only, introduced in northeastern U.S. and first misidentified as diandrum.

 

[AaronT]

I've collected the Glossostigma cleistanthum that grows in the Northeastern USA a few times and every time I've had it grows for a while and then dies off slowly. It needs super soft water, low water column nutrients, and high light to survive. It's not impossible to keep, but way too finicky to ever become popular. The waters it's found in here have a pH of less than 6 and almost no hardness to speak of.

 

[tirtha1979]

I've collected the Glossostigma cleistanthum that grows in the Northeastern USA a few times and every time I've had it grows for a while and then dies off slowly. It needs super soft water, low water column nutrients, and high light to survive. It's not impossible to keep, but way too finicky to ever become popular. The waters it's found in here have a pH of less than 6 and almost no hardness to speak of.

Not sure about the water parameters cause I was able to grow them in normal tap water (pH 7.5). Never checked the hardness but as it is a rocky region, hardness should be pretty high.

But agree with it's life span. They will grow very well for couple of months then the growth will become leggy and they will die off. I was able to keep them when I was running multiple culture, but finally lost them last month without no apparent reason.

 

[AaronT]

Not sure about the water parameters cause I was able to grow them in normal tap water (pH 7.5). Never checked the hardness but as it is a rocky region, hardness should be pretty high.

But agree with it's life span. They will grow very well for couple of months then the growth will become leggy and they will die off. I was able to keep them when I was running multiple culture, but finally lost them last month without no apparent reason.

Also, I think earlier in the thread someone alluded that you may actually have diandra, though it seems from what I've read that it acts very much the same and is just as difficult as cleistanthum.

 

[Noddy65]

I didnt have any trouble growing it....high light (150W MH), ADA substrate, pressurised CO2 and EI ferts and it really took off...grew like this for years

 

[Yo-han]

Capricious little plant. Hopefully some well submerged growing plants will spread the hobby.

 

[miremonster]

I didnt have any trouble growing it....high light (150W MH), ADA substrate, pressurised CO2 and EI ferts and it really took off...grew like this for years

That sounds promising!
So Your plant is Glossostigma diandrum, not cleistanthum, and originating from Australia?

 

[Noddy65]

That sounds promising!
So Your plant is Glossostigma diandrum, not cleistanthum, and originating from Australia?

Yep...thats correct..my original speciman was collected in the Durack River in the Kimberley region of WA (according to the supplier)

Mike