Hygrophylia Difformis

[carla]

Ever seen a Hygrophylia Difformis looking like THAT?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 991238.htm

[Faran]

Yes, that's the emersed form of leaves on H. Difformis. The plant has been grown emersed or hydroponically. You'll have to go through the conversion process which may result in the death of the plant.

On the same note, I got a wee sprig of emersed Difformis from waterplantz (on TradeMe) with an order and it turned into a underwater tree. Had to give the stuff away. Grows like a weed in planted tanks.

[HummingBird]

are you sure it's the emersed form? I thought it had two forms, one with leaves like that and one with branched leaves and it went either way depending on the light levels, hence the name difformis.

[Faran]

Yeah bro, definitely emersed (grown out of water). The other form, submersed or underwater, has the branchy leaves, etc etc. hence the name difformis, etc.

I guess I should clarify that the sprig indeed became a large bush of leaves that look like this and not an actual tree when grown under water...

[Plantman]

Blue is right.

plants that grown emerge is different from plant thats grown submerge.

the conversion from emerge to submerge will take some time if you are successful. it is not a guarantee, that is why, i encourage people not to buy the plant that is grown emerge from the hydroponic. they grow a lot faster if it is grown above the open air.

most LFS is selling them in their emerge form without knowing that the plant might not survive in the long run.

the picture shown is definitely a difformis in emerge form.

[HummingBird]

Thanks, yeah, I know what emersed and submersed mean, I'd just been told by someone else previously that the difference was caused by a difference in lighting - lower light it has thicker leaves with more surface area to catch more light, higher light levels it doesn't need that. It sounded plausible at the time. But I stand corrected.

[alanmin4304]

Difformis means two forms. Many moons ago we all went to the pet shop and bought water wisteria and now we buy H. difformis---same thing. It is difficult to convert to submersed growth and often rots at the base of the stem.

[Adrienne]

I aquired some emersed about 6 weeks ago. Spread it out between 4 tanks - in 3 of them it died off, in the other one its flourishing. Next time I'd buy submersed but at the time I was new to plants and didn't know the difference and the seller wasn't telling!

[alanmin4304]

The problem is that it usually has been grown emersed then spent some time submersed so it is betwix & between. If it has only been from cuttings and not submersed you can increase your chances by putting them into a glass of water in the sun until they grow roots then submerse them and they rot less often. Strong light helps also. Or you can buy them as submersed when available

[Adrienne]

Thanks for that, yes I did buy the next lot submersed from you alanim and they were great.

[alanmin4304]

Thanks for the kind words. It has now come to the "geez it gets cold" time of year down here and I spent the last couple of days moving what I can fit (and what the boss will let me) from the unheated tiny wee glass house inside and rigging up lights in the hope of saving some plants to start again with in the spring. In tha next few weeks plants will likely get more scarce and will become more difficult to convert from cold emersed to warm submersed conditions.

[alanmin4304]

30 years ago when I was supplying plants to most of the pet shops in town the plants were all submersed. Someone realized they would grow quicker and cheaper emersed so they virtually all became emersed. I was talking to a friend the other day who supplies a lot of shops and the prices they get from the shops are the same or less than what I was getting 30 years ago. Like many things in life you gets what you pays for.