Mauritius micro sword

Care at a glance

Overview

A slow-growing foreground carpet that spreads by runners into a dense low lawn, usually only a few centimeters tall. It does fine in medium light without CO2 but carpets much faster and tighter with CO2 injection and a nutrient-rich substrate. Plant small clumps a couple of centimeters apart and let the runners knit together, thinning if it stacks up.

In the wild

Endemic to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, where it grows in wet ground and shallow water margins. It is the narrowest-leaved of the cultivated Lilaeopsis species, with fine grass-like blades that have a rounded cross section. In the wild and emersed it stays low and creeps across damp substrate.

Good to know

A member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), so it is a true flowering plant rather than a grass despite the grass-like look. It was first collected for the aquarium trade around 1992 and only formally described as a new species (by Petersen and Affolter) in 1999. The leaves are actually reduced phyllodes with faint internal cross-partitions typical of the genus.

Did you know

Did you know this plant grew in aquariums for roughly seven years before botanists formally named it, so early hobbyists were keeping a species that technically had no scientific name yet.

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