Limnophila Aromatica Green

Overview: Limnophila Aromatica Green is a beautiful stem plant with its origin in Southeast Asia. It is often found as a weed in Asia rice paddy fields and is used as an aromatic herb (Ngò om) in some Vietnamese soups. With the medium growth rate and undemanding nature, this plant has huge demand among the aquarists. It is an easy to grow plant that is ideal for beginners. Under the right water parameters, Limnophila Aromatica Green shows proliferated growth and attains its best height and colour. Whether we talk about light, carbon dioxide or other nutrient supplements, Limnophila Aromatica is completely unfussy that can also tolerate minor fluctuations. You can plant it as a mid-ground or background plant. 

Appearance: Although you can find different varieties of this plant, Limnophila Aromatica Green is popular for its lush green colour and beautiful purplish and reddish hues in between. It is characterized by its narrow green leaves that are purple and red on the back. These colour variations can be attained by providing different light intensities. At the same time, carbon dioxide supplementation does the same thing. They grow tall easily and will reach the water surface of most tanks, and have a diameter of between 2 to 2.5 inches. The emersed forms have fewer leaves compared to submerged forms.

Hard/soft Plant: It is a hard plant.

Ideal water temperature: 22 to 27 degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature range for the growth and development of Limnophila Aromatica Green.

Lighting and other requirements: Since the plant has reddish and purplish hues on the backside of the leaves, light plays a huge role in getting it. Intensive light supply turns the leaves purple, while low light intensity keeps the hue red. The upper part of the leaves is green. Additional carbon dioxide supply promotes growth significantly. With proper water parameters, it can attain 20 to 30 cm height. 

Ideal pH level: 5 to 7 is the ideal pH range for Limnophila Aromatica Green.

Do you know: Limnophilla aromatica is easy to propagate by cuttings. Cut off the stem at a node some distance below the final height that you want the plant to grow to. Stagger the cutting height shorter at the front and taller at the back to get a nice slope. As new shoots appear on the cut stem base, cut off outlier shoots that do not match the slope of the cluster. Over time, this will produce neat bunches of plants.