Solenostoma tetragonum

Care at a glance

Overview

Attach small portions to rock or wood with glue or thread and let the cushion build slowly; it also suits nano tanks alongside shade plants like Bucephalandra. It is more demanding than common mosses: soft, acidic water, steady CO2 and a regular water column fertiliser keep the cushions dense, while neglect shows up as thin, straggly growth. Growth is very slow, so keep light moderate and the tank clean, because algae that settles in the cushion is nearly impossible to remove. Propagate by splitting a cushion and re-attaching the pieces.

In the wild

A leafy liverwort distributed across South, Southeast and East Asia, growing in permanently moist places such as wet rock, banks and soil in humid forest. It is not a true aquatic, but like many liverworts it adapts to submersed life, and the material in the hobby traces back to Borneo.

Good to know

A liverwort in the order Jungermanniales, family Solenostomataceae, long known under the older name Jungermannia tetragona. Ascending shoots carry small, round, overlapping leaflets that build dense, deep green cushions quite unlike the feathery look of true aquarium mosses. Material circulated in the trade under wrong names for years, including as the unrelated liverwort Blepharostoma trichophyllum.

Did you know

The pearl in its trade name is confusingly shared: shops have applied Pearl moss to other, unrelated plants as well, so buying by the scientific name is the only way to be sure you get this liverwort. The name fits, though, since a healthy cushion traps oxygen bubbles like strings of pearls.

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