Interesting how plants adapt

I thought I'd share this just because I found it interesting.

A few months back I started a planted tank using the soil and gravel cap method. The tank has a section with Frogbit and Duckweed at one end.









When I started the tank, I had a bit of soil left over and dumped it in a bucket outside .. and never got round to throwing it out. Anyway, we had a little rain and the bucket started to fill with water.
I left it there until about a month ago I decided to thin out the Frogbit. I grabbed a few handfuls and dumped them in the bucket with the muddy water, assuming it would die in the cold.
This afternoon I finally decided to empty the bucket and burn the extra plants (I understand they are very invasive) but to my surprise, not only had they survived but actually thrived.




What is interesting is the difference between the neglected plants in the bucket and those in the tank.

The tank plants have much shorter roots - see the picture with the 30cm ruler
Tank plants are noticeably greener on the leaves - hard to see in the pictures.
Tank plants leaves are very thin. The ones in the bucket have developed very thick leaves; almost spongy like a cactus.
The rate of reproduction seems to be about the same for both.








Maybe someone has a scientific explanation for it, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

 

Nice analysis

 

Thanks for sharing, very intetesting!

 

That is a good looking dirt tank ....

On a walkabout - yes water

Spotted this,



sure one could try and get it to grow in an aquarium



Amazing how little rain is need to turn a small calm stream into a torrent that nothing will grow in.





Later Ferdie

 

@Dale-CT That really is quite fascinating thanks for sharing

 

River Moe in Pia Thailand.