Pennywort

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Thyroid (lat. Houttuynia cordata) - an aquatic plant that represents the Araliaceae family and is also called hydrocotyl white-headed or white-headed shieldwort.

Description

Thyroid is a rather colorful long-stemmed plant, the rounded leaves of which grow up to four centimeters in diameter and boast a calm light green color. And the height of this aquatic beauty often reaches half a meter.

Almost always it is a perennial, but sometimes you can meet its annual varieties. The stalks of this plant are both ascending and creeping, and sometimes you can even see the rhizomes of the shieldwort protruding from the water.

The leaves located on strong petioles can be either simple or divided into lobes. All of them are equipped with miniature membranous stipules. And sometimes you can observe incredibly spectacular serrate-toothed leaves along the edges.

The bisexual flowers of this plant are collected in funny umbellate inflorescences, not only at the tips of the shoots, but also in the leaf axils. True, from time to time one can observe single flowers with small bracts.

The flattened fruits of the scutellum, which are ovoid, are endowed with five ribs each.

Where grows

Thyroid grows in both flowing and standing water bodies of South America (mainly in its tropical regions).

Growing and caring

The most optimal will be keeping an attractive pennywort in tropical aquariums. The plant planted in the ground reaches the water surface with lightning speed and immediately begins to effectively creep along it. This property allows excellent shading of the lower horizons in aquariums. And so that the lack of light does not turn into a real problem for all the aquarium plants growing in the neighborhood, the shieldwort, which forms a chic green carpet, needs to be systematically thinned out. By the way, there is no need to root it in the ground - the free-floating shieldwort will be a wonderful hiding place for miniature fry.

Thyroid can be grown both in paludariums and fully submerged. If suddenly there is a desire to relocate him to a slightly marshy paludarium, he will not need any adaptation at all. If the shieldwort was grown above water, then, by moving it to the aquarium, it is advisable to let the unusual plant float freely on the water surface. And it will be advisable to plant it in the ground, taking it under the water, only after it gives at least a few young leaves.

Water temperatures ranging from twenty-two to twenty-eight degrees are considered ideal for cultivation. If the thermometer begins to drop lower, then this plant will simply stop growing. But the acidity and hardness of water have absolutely no meaning for its full development - it will grow equally well in an alkaline and acidic environment. And the composition of the soil is also not fundamental. The only thing is that from time to time the woodworm needs a water change (if it is not changed for a long time, this aquatic inhabitant will gradually degrade).

As far as lighting is concerned, the cinnamon plant makes increased demands on it - even a slight shading instantly leads to its significant decrease in size. And if the shading is strong, the plant may die altogether.

Propagation plant propagates by cuttings - when developed under proper conditions, even a tiny piece of stem, on which a single leaf grows, is able to give life to a healthy and full-fledged plant.