Limnophila aromatica

Limnophila aromatica

General information: Uncommon in the NT, there is some in Anniversary Creek, Cato River and the Habgood River, all these places have soft acidic water. In the Habgood River it grows up from 5 meters deep in the middle of the river. When you break a leaf and crush it between your fingers it has an aromatic smell. Clyde Dunlop of the NT Herbarium came up with a novel way of differentiating between the various Limnophilas. He cut cross sections of the fleshy stems and these are useable as an identification key because the air sac patterns are different in each species.

Cultivation notes : It propagates from seed or by planting cuttings. Best grown in softer water with bright light and CO2 pH control.

Distribution : It has a large distribution, from India to Japan to New Guinea and within Australia it occurs tropical NT and Qld.

Selling details : Sold in bunches of cut stems.

Reference: Cowie, Short, Osterkamp Madsen (2000) "Floodplain Flora, a flora of the floodplain of the Northern Territory, Australia"