Furry_Pleco777

Thank you @Dark River Aquaticsthis is a great response. I am in communication with another, knowledgeable person, from whom I got the plant (I have one and have been floating it this far for root growth. It has not shown any signs of deterioration since mid November. I would post photos, if it were not for being limited by a kidney stone, which Mom Earth wants me to add to my local, sedimentary deposits. Hence time on hands. I am grateful folks like Chantz exist, am well familiar with His work, and have followed him for a while too; just somewhat reluctant in asking him, as he suffers from the same thing I do and I opt not to add to anything that may overwhelm him (on a personal note, please send greetings and salutations to him from a wet-plant-nerd in Tekshash). I was very happy, when he recovered and bravely spoke about his illness: my fullest respect! He is indeed the Guru and I cannot imagine how many similar requests he gets all the time. The details You provided are challenging my all-so-fluid and very limited opinion about this plant. And I like that. It also turns out, the species has been identified as long ago as 1933 (found that today, literally just minutes after I posted my entry). Just like many things do, apparently it was just gathering dust, which is not surprising, because stand alone, as a terrestrial species it is as interesting as… insignificant. I bet it is the size! It is obviously enjoying a Renaissance by opening new concept and context for the aquarium world. I sincerely hope that through time and patient experimentation we get to know this little gem more.

Howdy Y’all. This is my first entry as I have just signed up, brought to the forum by @Dark River Aquaticsentry. As everyone in this thread I am interested in the Xyris plant and wanted to share a synopsis of my key findings. What is known: the plant in question Xyris drummondii belongs to a grasses family and has been reported from localities ranging from Florida to East Texas (all states in between included). I have not been able to locate the type description online however, no online entry pre-dates 1993, which seems to indicate the species to be identified in late 1980’s/early 1990’s. The localities seem to be “bound” by a geographic latitude, which might be a function of ecotone and of soil type, as all are found within a certain, relative proximity to the coast of Gulf of Mexico. The plant itself is likely to be found in “patches”, where a number of conditions are met, thus making it an uncommon species. Two additional factors to it being enigmatic is probably plants’ size relative to what grows around it and the fact, that not all form the well-defined, flattened fan. There are no reports of the plant (that I could find) found fully submersed, or even emersed (roots in water/leaves in the air, to be sure of definition) in the wild. It may have ended up in a tank as a result of lengthy and careful conversion, or it was “one of those things”, where it was found in the water by and observant and forward-thinking individual. What is not known: Precise timing and where the plant has been intorduced to the aquarium hobby. Is the red variety the same species, or a close cousin? The plant is found in areas, which may/may not be boggy. One common denominator I see is that substrate is almost always sandy. The plant is not very happy in the tank, unless it is provided with strong light. It therefore may not be suitable for deeper tanks. It is more than likely, that it requires a decent CO2 level in water, since it is pretty certainly a “convert”.