47 Blacklisted Plants
Description
This article is from the Aquaria: Plants FAQ, by multiple authors.
47 Blacklisted Plants
These plants are so-called "blacklisted" because though they are
sold under the guise of being true aquatic plants, they are actually
land or emersed plants. Typically what happens is you buy one of
these, it lives for a month, then dies. Don't buy them, unless you are
setting up a paludarium and want to keep their leaves above water. The
main problem with identifying all the blacklisted plants is that they
are mostly known by goofy trade names which vary from
region-to-region... To make things worse, true aquatics are sometimes
sold under one of these trade names as well, so it's best to know the
plant's scientific name!
* umbrella pine
* ground pines/club mosses (Lycopodium)
* aluminum plant (Pilea cadairei)
* crinkle (Hemigraphis)
* green hedge
* underwater palm
* spider plant (Chlorophytum)
* Chinese evergreen
* arrowhead -- either Syngonium (the houseplant) or a species of
Sagittaria that doesn't do well submerged.
* pongol sword
* sandriana, green dragon plant (Dracena sanderana) -- tall
corn-like stalk, dark green sword-like leaves with white edges.
* mondo grass, fountain plant (Ophiopogon japonicus) -- Grassy,
leaves in one plane.
* Japanese rush (Acorus gramineus) -- looks like mondo.
* Brazil sword, Borneo swords (Spathiphyllum sp.). S. wallisii may
be suitable for submersion according to Rataj.
* scarlet hygro/dragon flame/alligator weed (Alternanthera sessilis
and other sp.) -- see stem plant listing as some varieties can be
grown.
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