# Plant ID please



## usernamehere (Mar 1, 2013)

Both of these plants were taken from a local marsh

I have no idea what they are.

First plant (looks like hornwort but its not hornwort)

















Second plant (looks like mini water lily)

















Sorry for the bad images, camera not really good.
What plant are these?


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## AquaticPulse (Jun 19, 2011)

i'm not certain, but the first one sort of looks like fanwort. where did you find them?


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

I was going to say the 2nd plant is Salvinia but it's pretty big if it is that plant.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Second one is likely a juvenile water lily of some kind. If you got it from water more than two feet deep, be prepared for its leaves to grow to the height of the water depth it came from.

Edit: I'm wrong.. it's European Frogbit, botanical name Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, and it's an invasive species that the Ontario Government would love to get rid of. It can be sold mistakenly as either American or Amazon frogbit, but has very different flowers, as it's from a completely different family than the North American frogbits. Amazon and American frogbit are both Limnobiums, L. Laevigatum and L. spongia, respectively. Spongia is also called Floriday frogbit. 

The European frogbit has become widely established all around the Great Lakes area, among others, and it winters over on the bottom in a special structure, but I regret, I can't remember what it's called just now. The structures pop up in spring and begin growing quickly. Might make a nice pond plant, but I am not sure how well it would do in an aquarium. 

The Amazon frogbit, I learned while doing this search, is banned in California, where they're spending millions to get rid of it. Seems it has the potential to be a worse problem than other notable nuisance floating water plants have become.

I now wonder if some of the problems some folks have growing frogbit might possibly be thanks to having American L. spongia, instead of Amazon L. laevigatum, or quite possibly the European one in some cases ?

One way to be sure which family you have is if the plant flowers. The European plant has a three petaled cup held well above water, while both limnobiums flower right at the water level. Blooms aren't very big, but have numerous very slender, pointed white petals. 

They are water pollinated, which I find fascinating. I didn't know any flowers were pollinated by water, but the limnobium species release their pollen to float on the water from one flower to another, where it touches the stigmas and seeds will result. Though flowers rarely occur in aquariums, I had one flower last year out on the balcony in small tub. Wish there had been more than one, maybe I'd have got seeds.


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## usernamehere (Mar 1, 2013)

I found out the 2nd plant (the one that looks like a mini water lily) is European Frogbit.

The first plant is not fanwort. looks to be some kind of milfoil.


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## usernamehere (Mar 1, 2013)

oh, and for those that are wondering where I got them, they can be found at Rogue river marsh. Just walk around the shores and ul see plenty.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Hence the government wish to get rid of them.. they're much too successful and choke out native plants.


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