Platinum glosso

Glossostigma elatinoides 'Platinum'

Also known as Glossostigma Platinum, Glosso Platinum

FreshwaterCarpetingRunnersCuttings

Platinum glosso (Glossostigma elatinoides 'Platinum') — Buce Plant · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Light: High light
CO2: CO₂ required
Temperature: 59–79°F; 15–26°C
Max height: 1.6 in; 4 cm

Growth rate: Medium
Placement: Foreground
Type: Carpeting
pH: 5.0–7.5
Hardness: 0–14 dGH
Spread: 3.9 in (10 cm)
Nutrient uptake: Root + water column
Growth region: Submersed
Difficulty: Difficult
Family: Phrymaceae
Origin: Cultivated (tissue-culture line; the species is from New Zealand and Australia)

Overview

Platinum glosso is a variegated tissue culture line of Glosso, grown as a pale carpet in the foreground. It needs standard Glosso care with the margin for error removed, and it is rated difficult.

Did you know

The whitest cups of Platinum glosso are the worst buys. The palest plantlets carry the least chlorophyll, so the showiest tissue is the most likely to waste away after planting. A plug with plenty of green in it establishes far better.

Caring for Platinum glosso

Separate the tissue culture cup into small plugs and plant them a couple of centimeters apart in fresh, nutrient-rich aqua soil. Expect slower fill-in than the green form.

Platinum glosso needs high light, injected CO2 and soft water, kept at 59 to 79°F (15 to 26°C). Under weak light it grows upward instead of creeping, and the carpet fails. It feeds through both its roots and its leaves, so add root tabs alongside a liquid fertilizer.

It grows at a medium pace. Trim the carpet before it thickens enough for the lower layer to rot, and replant healthy runners or cut tops.

Keep algae off it aggressively. The pale leaves have no reserve to outgrow a coating.

Good to know

Platinum glosso is a line of Glossostigma elatinoides, in the family Phrymaceae. The species is one of the smallest carpeting plants in the hobby, with paired spoon-shaped leaves on creeping runners. The Platinum line carries a stable variegation that drains the leaves to pale yellow-green or near white. Each plantlet runs on the photosynthesis of its greener parts, which makes the line weaker than plain Glosso.

In the wild

Platinum glosso is known only from tissue culture. Platinum labels turn up on several unrelated aquarium plants from the same suppliers, and here the name means the variegated Glossostigma. The green species carpets muddy lake margins and slow stream edges in New Zealand and southeastern Australia. It creeps over wet mud, emersed or submersed in shallow water.

Common questions

Does Platinum glosso need to be planted in the substrate?

Yes. Split it into small clumps and push each one into the substrate with tweezers, leaving gaps for it to fill.

Does Platinum glosso need CO2?

Yes. Platinum glosso needs injected CO2 to grow well, and it usually struggles without it.

How much light does Platinum glosso need?

Platinum glosso needs high light from a strong planted-tank LED. In weaker light it grows upward instead of spreading across the substrate.

Does Platinum glosso need root tabs?

They help. Platinum glosso takes nutrients through both its roots and its leaves. Root tabs near its roots and a liquid fertilizer cover both.

How do you propagate Platinum glosso?

Platinum glosso propagates by runners and cuttings. New plants grow along its runners. Cut one free once it has roots and plant it. Cut off the top of a stem and replant it, and the stump left behind grows new shoots.