This plant was brought into the hobby as Rotala sp. 'Araguaia'. Only recently (2010), after it was brought to bloom, Cavan Allen was able to identfiy the true species of this alleged Rotala species by comparing it with samples from the Smithsonian Herbarium (Washington, D.C.). The genus Cuphea holds around 260 species and is distributed in the American tropics and subtropics. There are only a few aquatic Cuphea species, and C. anagalloidea is the first plant of the genus that is cultivated in aquaria. This species is endemic in Brazil, where it is distributed in the north, east, and south-east (Pará, Tocantins, Bahia, Goiás, Minas Gerais).
Cuphea anagalloidea is a small, demanding stem plant. Its shoots grow around 1.5 to 2 cm wide, measured from leaf tip to leaf tip. The striking red colour on the upper side of the submersed leaves is most intensive under strong light, and it can look like it was brushed on. The red leaves often have small green spots. Emersed plants have green leaves and grow to an overall larger size.
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Price per: 3 stems.
This item can be shipped ONLY to Europe.