>> I just opened up the latest Fishes of Sahul and the Bulletin. Its good
>> to see a little information on some of the aquatic plants native to
>> OZ.
>
>Eriocaulon setaceum is something that I have wanted for a while. I have
>yet to get the seed but it should be here very shortly after the conference.
Those photos by Neil Armstrong made me wish a few of those seeds would
come over to the US. Hey Roy, if you get the chance can you bring some
back?
>>Trying to look up plants by location isn't the easiest thing to do
>> in plants books.
>
>It is also not very precise as well, there are rarely single species that
>are growing to exclusion in any general location. At last years
>conference Heiko showed a slide of an Irian Jayan stream that was
>completly dominated by a single species of Lagenandra, very impressive as
>the plants were about 60cm high. However as soon as you moved away from
>that small area the aquatic flora changed dramaticaly.
Actually I was taking about references to New Guinea and Australia in
general. Often you're lucky if they bother to mention where they are
native to in some books. Other plant books will just mention
continents and leave it at that. Unfortunately they tend to forget
about mentioning Australia even if the plants do exist there.
>>And getting the names of these plants certainly
>> helps.
>
>Even the genus can sometimes be helpful, often only a real expert can
>tell the difference between some of the species in closely related taxa.
At least until you manage to get a flower on it. Then many become
fairly clear. Lighting can have such a large affect on how the
vegetative portion of the plant appears. On a number of occasions I've
picked up a plant identified as a particular species only to find its
another when it finally flowers.
>>Now if I can only chase down a few more of these species in the
>> US.
>
>You may have some Aponogeton elongatus, very nice fast growing
>aponogeton. There is the possibility that someone on the list would have
>the seeds of something like Ottelia alismoides (not for the beginer plant
>enthuisiast at all) and eriocaulon. There are a lot of other things that
>are rather nice, but they are also cutting plants that are a bit fragile
>for the time it would take to get it to you. It is only recently that
>real attention has been focused on our native plants, there are a couple
>that have real potential eg Ondinea purpurea.
I've already picked up A. elongatus. Its not very common here but does
show up on rare occasions. I'd love to try some seeds from the others
some day. When I finally get down under one of these years, bringing
back seeds might be the easiest thing to do. I would like to get some
of my tanks set up will all Australian fish and plants or New Guinea
plants for those fish species.
>> I do have a question on crypts, do you have any species of crypts in
>> Australia?
>
>If you mean native, then there are none that are known about. If you mean
>introduced, then there are mainly the common ones and it can be really
>hard to find anything that is not simply found through commercial
>suppliers. There has been something found recently that looks like a crypt
>but is not.
Sounds interesting, I'll have to keep my ears open for that one. Can
you post a note when they identify it?
Of course I meant native. Sorry to hear about the introduced species.
thanks for the other names to chase.
Cary Hostrawser
Minnesota Aquarium Society
http://www.mn-aquarium.org/
Rainbowfish Study Group of North America
http://home.earthlink.net/~sbuckel/index.html