Staurogyne Repens

Scientific name: Staurogyne repens

Origin: Rio Cristalino, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Growth: slow

Light and CO2: medium light; CO2 preferred, not required

Placement: foreground to midground

Propagation: replant trimmed shoots

Staurogyne Repens (Staurogyne repens) grows low and bushy rather than tall, which puts it between a carpet and a stem plant. It comes from the Rio Cristalino in Mato Grosso, southern Brazil, and is related to Hygrophila but grows slower and stays compact, with small green leaves on stiff brownish stems. Once established it sends out horizontal creeping shoots from the base, and each shoot forms a new plant, so a few pieces slowly build into a dense low hedge for the foreground or midground. It branches sideways when the tips are trimmed, so regular cutting makes it denser. Tropica recommends medium to high light and CO2 for the best result, but it grows in moderate light without added CO2, just more slowly. Nursery plants come with leaves grown in air; remove the longest upright shoots and any emergent leaves at planting and the underwater form fills in over a few months. The low, dense growth gives shrimp cover and holds biofilm, the microbial film they graze.

Water: ordinary tropical conditions; it is hardy and tolerant of hardness.

Planting: divide the pot into two to four sections and plant them a few centimetres apart in a nutrient-rich substrate, or add root tabs (fertiliser capsules pushed into the substrate). Trim new upright shoots weekly once it settles and replant them to widen the group.

Light and feeding: medium light; more light and CO2 injection (carbon dioxide gas added to boost growth) speed it up but are optional. Dose a liquid fertiliser with trace elements to keep the leaves green.