Bolbitis heudelotii

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Bolbitis heudelotii
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Polypodiineae
Family: Dryopteridaceae
Genus: Bolbitis
Species:
B. heudelotii
Binomial name
Bolbitis heudelotii
(Bory ex Fée) Alston

Bolbitis heudelotii, also known as the African water fern, [1] creeping fern, and Congo fern, is native to subtropical and tropical Africa, from Ethiopia west to Senegal; and down to northern South Africa. [2]

Contents

Description

Bolbitis heudelotii, named for the botanical explorer of West Africa Jean-Pierre Heudelot (1802–1837), [3] is an aquatic polypody fern growing submerged in rivers and streams, attached to rocks or wood by the threadlike rootlets extending from its rhizomes. It has dark green, pinnate leaves 15–40 cm long and 15–25 cm broad. It grows submerged. The water in its native habitat is fast-moving over sandy or rocky bottoms, very clean, not very hard and slightly acidic. The roots cling to rocks and the sandy beds.[ citation needed ]

Cultivation

In the aquarium, B. heudelotii requires water temperatures of 20–28 °C and moderately acidic ('soft') to neutral water with a pH range of 5.0–7.0, [4] but tolerates a wide range of light levels. It does best in flowing water. [5] [6] [1]

This species is often used as a midground specimen plant in tropical freshwater aquaria. Propagation is from divisions and cuttings from the rhizome. [7]

It seems to be intolerant to being crowded and to fish excreta. [8] It is best grown secured to a piece of wood rather than planted direct in the substrate. Additional CO2 seems to boost growth and it grows best in a rather shady position.[ citation needed ]

Propagation is by division of the rhizome. It is a slow-growing plant.[ citation needed ]

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<i>Anubias</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Echinodorus cordifolius</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Echinodorus macrophyllus</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Leptochilus pteropus</i> Species of aquatic fern

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<i>Aponogeton crispus</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Ceratopteris thalictroides</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Azolla cristata</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Bolbitis</i> Genus of ferns

Bolbitis is a genus of ferns in the family Dryopteridaceae, subfamily Elaphoglossoideae, in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016.

<i>Crinum thaianum</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Cryptocoryne beckettii</i> Species of aquatic plant

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<i>Nymphaea nouchali</i> Species of aquatic plant

Nymphaea nouchali, often known by its synonym Nymphaea stellata, or by common names blue lotus, star lotus, red and blue water lily, blue star water lily or manel flower is a water lily of genus Nymphaea. It is native to southern and eastern parts of Asia, and is the national flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In Sanscrit it is utpala. This species is sometimes considered to include the blue Egyptian lotus Nymphaea caerulea. In the past, taxonomic confusion has occurred, with the name Nymphaea nouchali incorrectly applied to Nymphaea pubescens.

<i>Bolbitis heteroclita</i> Species of aquatic plant

Bolbitis heteroclita is an aquatic fern species of Bolbitis, native to the Indochina region of tropical Southeast Asia.

<i>Anubias afzelii</i> Species of aquatic plant

Anubias afzelii is a species belonging to the Aroid genus Anubias. It was first described scientifically by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott in 1857, based on material collected in Sierra Leone by Adam Afzelius, after whom the species was named. The genus Anubias was described simultaneously, with only A. afzellii belonging to it, which therefore is the type species of the genus. No other species currently placed in the genus Anubias was described earlier and A. afzelii was therefore the first species of this genus known to science.

Anubias gigantea is a species belonging to the Aroid genus Anubias. It was first mentioned by Auguste Chevalier in 1920, based on material that he had collected in Guinea. The formal description followed in 1939 by John Hutchinson. It is closely related to A. afzelii, basically only differing from that species by the form of the leaf-blade.

<i>Fontinalis antipyretica</i> Species of aquatic moss

Fontinalis antipyretica, greater water-moss, or common water moss, is a species of submerged aquatic moss belonging to the subclass Bryidae. It is found in both still and flowing freshwater in Europe, Asia, Greenland and Africa. In North America it is found in most Canadian provinces with a seaboard and most US states except the most southern.

<i>Marsilea minuta</i> Species of aquatic fern in the family Marsileaceae

Marsilea minuta, or dwarf waterclover is a species of aquatic fern in the family Marsileaceae. It is not to be confused with Marsilea minutaE.Fourn. 1880, which is a synonym for Marsilea vestita. Other common names include gelid waterklawer, small water clover, airy pepperwort, and pepperwort, though the lattermost also applies to plants in the genus Lepidium. In French it is called marsilea à quatre feuilles and petite marsilée, the latter appearing to be a calque with the Latin botanical name. In Chinese it is 南国田字草, literally "southern field word grass," referencing the similarity of the leaflet shape to the Chinese character for "field." The Koch Rajbongshi people and Garo people call it shusni shak. It is called 'শুশনি শাক' in Bengali. In parts of India it can be called sunisanakka In Indonesian it is semanggi, but this name also applies to Marsilea crenata. In Japanese it is nangokudenjiso and in Thai it is phakwaen. In Malaysian it is tapak itek. In the Philippines it is kaya-kayapuan.

References

  1. 1 2 "Bolbitis heudelotii". Aquarium World. Federation of New Zealand Aquatic Societies (FNZAS). Retrieved 5 Nov 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. "Bolbitis heudelotii". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. Kasselmann, Christel, Aquarium Plants (Krieger, Malabar, Florida) 2003 :157.
  4. B. heudelotii will not thrive in alkaline water at pH over 7.0: "leaves will become blackened and stained" (Kasselmann 2003).
  5. Tropica: Bolbitis heudelotii
  6. Vumba Nature Reserve: Fern list Archived July 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Hiscock, P. (2003). Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants Interpret Publishing, United States and Canada ISBN   0-7641-5521-0; Kasselmann (2003).
  8. Schmidt, Jurgen, P. (2002). Aquarium Plants Interpret Publishing, UK ISBN   1-84286-034-8