Vesicularia montagnei - Christmas moss & semi aquatic Aroids

A day out last week was had in a famous rafting and kayaking spot in Kedah. It's  a very nice cascade with very strong moving crystal clear water. This place is always busy during weekends and public holidays; there's also camping activities by the likes of groups of families and kids! Anyway, that's not what I'm about to focus on here :P  ... instead, it is my curiosity about aquatic plants growing in the area. It has been almost 4 years since I was there last, and I can say it has changed a lot!

A view from a tree-top canopy walk

Vesicularia montagnei

emersive Vesicularia montagnei

Vesicularia montagnei - Christmas moss

Christmas moss growing on wet land

Been on the lookout for Christmas moss and was pleased to find some; but my experience with keeping Christmas moss is that they take time to adjust from emersive form to submerged, probably taking about a month. Growth is a little bit slower than other moss species. The Christmas tree shape  appears to vary depending on your lights and the temperature of the water.

semi aquatic aroids

sometimes they will be submerged in the water when the level is quite high

fast moving water

Trust it is not as long as 4 years before I next revisit this area!

Aquatic mosses in my tank

Here are the pics of aquatic mosses in my tank. 

If you have any information on the above mosses, I'd appreciate it... please let me know.

Update on emersed setup for Marsilea Hirsuta and Java fern (Microsorum pteropus)

Some update on Marsilea hirsuta and Java fern. This was setup not long ago:

Java fern planlets taking off in emersed form

Jave fern plantlets in a plastic cup

Marsilea hirsuta

Created this emersive set-up for Marsilea hirsuta as I wanted to see the production of spore caps. Have been keeping this type of plant for about a year or so now and they hardly produce any spore caps underwater. In this case, I positioned them in the balcony area outside my window, so they were exposed to hot and occasionally humid conditions, though not in the full glare of the sun. So we shall see in due course if the emersive state is necessary to produce spore caps. You can check the previous setup here: How to propagate Java fern plantlets

Bolbitis heudolotii in it's native habitat

A water fern with very beautiful transparent green leaves. Bolbitis heudelotii or African water fern originally came from West Africa (Congo), where they grow along the edge of the waterfall with rocky habitat. When planting do not cover the rhizome because it will rot, and it is best to plant Bolbitis heudelotii on a driftwood or stone. Keep the plant in position with fishing line but usually i used sewing thread as it will dissolved in the water over a time. This beautiful plants is easy to propagate by splitting the rhizome. Growth can be increased considerably by supplying CO2, and is only optimal in soft, slightly acidic water. Based on my experience, Bolbitis heudelotii is extremely slow growing plants, probably slower than common Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) and it is easily attracts algae. But other than that, they're easy to keep.

 These pictures of Bolbitis heudelotii growing in their native habitat in West Africa (Congo) during dry season. They usually grows in emersives form in waterfall areas.

Submerged form of bolbitis heudelotii

 NOTE : I don't own all these pictures, All the pictures are retrieved from internet. If you want to see the original website of these photos, you can go to : West African Plant Database