Needle leaf bacopa

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a demanding, light-loving plant submersed, needing high light, CO2, and clean, soft, acidic water to hold its fine green foliage. It grows slowly underwater and resents unstable conditions, so keep it in an established, well-fertilized, algae-free tank. Emersed cultivation is much easier, and it is usually shipped in emersed form.

In the wild

Native to the eastern and southern parts of central Brazil, including the Pantanal, where it lives in boggy areas of shallow, very soft water in full sun. It carries fine, awl-shaped leaves in whorls that make it look far more like a Myriophyllum milfoil than a typical Bacopa.

Good to know

It is a true member of the genus Bacopa in the family Plantaginaceae, despite its milfoil-like appearance, and was described by Bentham. The needle-like leaf shape is a convergent look-alike, not an actual relationship to the feather-leaf milfoils it resembles.

Did you know

Even though it looks exactly like a feathery milfoil, it is a real Bacopa, and it is far harder to grow underwater than the tough, beginner-grade Bacopa species most hobbyists know.

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