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Hygrophila serpyllum

Also known as Staurogyne sp. 'Brown', Marsh carpet, Hygrophila serphyllum

FreshwaterCarpetingRunnersCuttings
Hygrophila serpyllum (Hygrophila serpyllum)
no rights reserved, uploaded by S.MORE · cc0

Care at a glance

Light
Medium light
CO2
CO₂ beneficial
Growth rate
Medium
Placement
Foreground
Type
Carpeting
Temperature
68–82°F (20–28°C)
pH
5.0–8.0
Hardness
0–30 dGH
Max height
5.9 in (15 cm)
Nutrient uptake
Root + water column
Growth region
Submersed or emersed
Difficulty
Medium
Origin
India
Family
Acanthaceae

Overview

A carpet former for the foreground: plant small clumps a few centimetres apart and the creeping shoots knit into a closed mat over time. Light steers the shape, with strong light holding it at a low 3-5 cm carpet and weaker light letting it rise into a looser bush of 5 cm or more, and it will also spill down attractively from a raised planting spot. It is undemanding about pH and hardness, and while CO2 is not strictly required, moderate injection plus full water column fertilisation keeps the mat dense. Trim it back flat now and then, since an overgrown mat shades its own lower layer.

In the wild

Widespread in India, where it creeps over various wetlands that are periodically flooded and then fall dry. It grows emersed as a small marsh plant with white-blue flowers during the dry phase and switches to a fully submersed creeping form when the water returns.

Good to know

A member of the Acanthaceae whose epithet refers to wild thyme, Thymus serpyllum, after the look of its small roundish leaves, each only 1 to 1.5 cm long. The species has been known to science for a long time but only reached the aquarium hobby recently, and it behaves nothing like the tall upright hygros: shoots creep, branch and root at the stem nodes. It initially circulated in the trade as Staurogyne sp. 'Brown'.

Did you know

It spent its first years in the hobby masquerading as a Staurogyne, sold as Staurogyne sp. 'Brown', because a creeping, small-leaved carpet was the last thing anyone expected from a Hygrophila.

Appears in

Foreground plants · Carpeting plants

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