I have searched the APC Plant Finder, Tropica, Plant Geek, etc and cannot come to a conclusion on what plant I have here. A short description/history:

I picked three of these up at a LFS maybe a month ago. They do not have a rhizome or bulb, just a root ball at the base, which it uses to anchor itself very effectively in my Eco (was really in there when I went to move some of it). It does not seem to grow more than 12-inches or so tall, is throwing new leaves, but does not seem to be a quick grower. The leaves are round and firm, will break easily if bent more than 15-degrees or so.

It is housed in Eco-Complete with 324w of T5HO (8 hours a day full blast), EI ferts and automated CO2 at around 30-40ppm.

My best guess is perhaps some kind of Eleocharis, perhaps montevidensis or acicularis ???


Notice the horizontal white line segments:






And here I took a piece out and broke it in half to show the structure a bit. It appears to have 2 viens that run the length of each leaf. Here you are looking at both ends of the break:




Anyone?

Isoetes

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks Tom! It is hard to find any good information on this plant in the context of the aquarium hobby.

Next time I move one of these, I am going to have to study the roots a bit more.

I've saw it listed under a few names such as quillwort and octopus plant. I used it as an alternative for the italian val because the growth rate is more manageable. I had one that was 5 inches out of the water line in my 75g but I must have damaged the roots after relocating it and it lost a lot of leaves. Hopefully it wil recover.

Here are the roots: