Lindernia rotundifolia Variegated

Lindernia rotundifolia 'Variegated'

Also known as Variegated lindernia

FreshwaterStemCuttingsSide shoots

Care at a glance

Light: Medium light
CO2: CO₂ beneficial
Growth rate: Fast
Placement: Midground
Type: Stem
Temperature: 59–82°F (15–28°C)
pH: 5.0–7.5
Hardness: 0–15 dGH
Max height: 11.8 in (30 cm)
Spread: 2.4 in (6 cm)
Nutrient uptake: Root + water column
Growth region: Submersed or emersed
Difficulty: Easy
Origin: Cultivated variety of Lindernia rotundifolia, native to South Asia
Family: Linderniaceae

Overview

One of the easier stems in the hobby and a sensible first variegated plant. It tolerates a wide range of hardness and temperature, grows fast, and does fine without CO2, though injection and decent ferts make the growth denser and the markings cleaner. Give it medium light or better so the white veining stays distinct rather than washing out. Use it in midground groups or as a quick filler, top and replant regularly, and thin the group now and then so lower leaves keep getting light. It is unfussy enough that neglect shows up as untidiness rather than melt.

In the wild

A cultivar maintained in the trade, not a wild plant. Its parent, Lindernia rotundifolia, grows on sandy stream banks in South Asia, including Sri Lanka and India, rooted in wet sand at the waterline and coping with periodic submersion when streams rise. Like the parent it grows readily both emersed and submersed in cultivation.

Good to know

A member of Linderniaceae, a family carved out of the old Scrophulariaceae. The species name rotundifolia refers to the small, rounded, stalkless leaves set in opposite pairs. The variegated cultivar overlays the light green leaf with whitish veining and streaks; it is a colour selection, not a separate taxon.

Did you know

The genus is named after Franz Balthasar von Lindern, an eighteenth-century Strasbourg physician and botanist, which makes this cheerful little stem plant a small monument to Alsatian medicine.