Hygrophila pinnatifida UK

Care at a glance

Overview

Grow it like standard pinnatifida: either rooted in the substrate or attached to wood and rock, where its runners creep and pin new crowns to the hardscape. Medium to strong light with CO2 keeps it compact, textured and red; in dim tanks it turns green, leggy and sparse. It appreciates steady macro- and micronutrient dosing, and it dislikes reaching the surface, so top it before it gets there. Pinching tips forces side shoots and builds the dense patchwork it is known for. Propagate from cuttings, side shoots or the plantlets it sets along hardscape.

In the wild

This is a locality form of Hygrophila pinnatifida collected in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India, which is what the UK on the label stands for. The species grows in the Western Ghats on rocks along streams and rivers, emersed in monsoon-soaked ground for part of the year and submersed in flowing water for the rest.

Good to know

Hygrophila pinnatifida belongs to the Acanthaceae and is unusual in the genus for its deeply lobed, fern-like leaves and its habit of clinging to hardscape. The UK form entered the hobby through ADA tissue culture and differs from the standard trade plant in longer, more deeply cut leaves with stronger red-brown colour. It is a collection-site designation, not a separate species or a cultivar in the formal sense.

Did you know

The UK on the tag has nothing to do with Britain: it is Uttara Kannada, the Indian district where this form was collected. The species itself is one of the very few stem plants that will grip rock like an epiphyte, which is why aquascapers treat it more like a fern than a hygro.

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