Myriophyllum tetrandrum

Care at a glance

Overview

A fine-textured green background stem for soft, slightly acidic, warm water. Plant a loose group of stems in nutrient-rich substrate and give it decent light; CO2 is not strictly required but keeps the whorls tight and the growth steady. Growth is medium paced for a milfoil, so it is easier to keep groomed than the fast species. The feathery leaves trap debris and grow algae if flow dumps waste on them or light runs ahead of nutrients, so keep it in gentle current and trim and replant the healthy tops. It melts if moved between very different water, so acclimate cuttings rather than replanting the whole stand at once.

In the wild

Myriophyllum tetrandrum is widely distributed across the Asian tropics, growing in shallow standing and slow-moving fresh water. The plants that entered the aquarium hobby were collected from a small lake south of Krabi city in southern Thailand. Like most milfoils it grows submersed for most of its life and pushes flowering shoots above the surface, and it can be grown emersed on wet substrate.

Good to know

A water milfoil in the family Haloragaceae, closely related to the red Myriophyllum tuberculatum but staying green. The species name tetrandrum refers to the four stamens of its flowers. An older synonym is Myriophyllum indicum, and the finely divided leaves stand in whorls along the stem in the typical milfoil pattern.

Did you know

This milfoil only reached the hobby around 2008, from a single small lake near Krabi in Thailand, and it is essentially the green counterpart of the red Myriophyllum tuberculatum it grows alongside in Asia.

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