Id This Plant Which Has Been Sitting In My Garden For Ages

[Jallen]

I had it in my tank a little while back and decided I didn't want it in there at the time. So I put it in a bucket in the garden with some old shoots of water cress (you know where you buy the whole watercress plants from the super market) and it's done pretty well. It must have been there 5 months up to now, so the temperatures wouldnt have dropped to a very low level, but I'm surprised to see that it's actually continued growing in this bucket.

The plant itself. The leaves are pretty hard and looks almost to be slightly variegated, though I don't know whether thats because of levels of nutrients in the bucket or something.

Its home.

Bonus mosquito larvae in the bucket.

As I said, the leaves are pretty hard unlike the vallisneria I have in my tank, they don't float at the top of the water, they just plain stick out of the top. For this reason my dad suggested it might be a plant which likes to be semi-submerged, so I put one of the smaller shoots in about 4 inches of water to see how it would do.

So what do you think? Thanks in advance

 

[bae1994]

looks like a pond plannt that likes to be semi submerged looks like the one i have in my pond

 

[mixmaster jay]

same here i have it in my pond it about 3ft/4ft tall

it could be Acorus Calamus
Acorus Variagatus
also it could be some sort of iris has it ever flowered ?

 

[Jallen]

looks like a pond plannt that likes to be semi submerged looks like the one i have in my pond

Hmm ok. I will probably be using it in a 15 gallon which is currently empty for a room temperature tank.
Interesting if it is a pond plant since it was in the same selling tank as amazon swords and vallisneria.

Anyone else got any opinions on what it might be?

same here i have it in my pond it about 3ft/4ft tall

it could be Acorus Calamus
Acorus Variagatus
also it could be some sort of iris has it ever flowered ?

It hasn't flowered, currently it's about 20cm tall. I can see the similarity in the plants that you suggested but it's quite a lot smaller and the leaves don't look as broad, though that may be something which comes from growth.

 

[mixmaster jay]

it can't be any kind of vallis as its growing outside the waterline i will keep looking for you

 

[mixmaster jay]

Cyperus Eragrostis (Parasole plant)
Iris Laevigata this has got quite thin foliage

 

[Jallen]

Acorus Calamus seems to have too broad, dark leaves
Acorus Variagatus seems to be too variagated

Cyperus Eragrostis seems similar in ways but Cyperus Eragrostis seems to grow outwards a lot more with the flower part in the middle. One thing to note is that this plant does appear to have been cut off from a stem or root of some sort and bound (first picture, the reddish brown bit at the bottom)

Iris Laevigata again seems to have too dark leaves...

 

[mixmaster jay]

these grow off big root systems the main root of mine is about 3" round, ive cut a few off and replanted them
this might sound silly but does it have a slight citrus'y orangey smell to it when you handle it ?

 

[mixmaster jay]

this plant is Acorus calamus Sweet Flag tha tall one that is lol

 

[Jallen]

It doesn't smell citrusy when I handle it, but after looking at your pictures and having a more detailed look on google, it does indeed seem to be a Sweet flag

Thank you very much. I don't have a pond unfortunately, it's strange that pets at home were selling them in the aquarium section.

Maybe they will be alright in a cold water tank? I can always prune them if they go beserk on growth.

 

[mixmaster jay]

pets@home do sell alot of plants that aren't aquatic too

they will do great in any tank i think but they do get tall and you will need to anchor them down well when they get bigger the stems have air in them so they float well lol get a small pond plant basket and plant and wieght that down with beach pebbles they are cheap

 

[Jallen]

pets@home do sell alot of plants that aren't aquatic too

they will do great in any tank i think but they do get tall and you will need to anchor them down well when they get bigger the stems have air in them so they float well lol get a small pond plant basket and plant and wieght that down with beach pebbles they are cheap

Cool, I'll be putting them in a coldwater tank then
Thanks again.

 

[mixmaster jay]

no problem mate glad i could help even though it took a while lol hehe

 

[lljdma06]

no problem mate glad i could help even though it took a while lol hehe

This is a bog plant and while it will survive some time in an aquarium, it is not its ideal location.

llj