Myriophyllum quitense

The name Myriophyllum quitense is probably almost unknown in the aquarium hobby, and this milfoil species is presumably not cultivated as an aquarium plant either. However, a synonym of M. quitense is Myriophyllum elatinoides¹, and this name is quite familiar to aquarists and in the aquatic plant trade. The aquarium plant called "M. elatinoides", however, is probably never the species M. quitense but a green form of M. aquaticum, see Myriophyllum aquaticum "Green".

The Andean milfoil is distributed in North and South America. However, various Myriophyllum populations from Australia have also been called M. elatinoides. According to Orchard (1981)¹, these Australian milfoils do not belong to the species M. quitense but to three separate species: Myriophyllum salsugineum, M. caput-medusae and M. porcatum.

We have no information on how far true Myriophyllum quitense is suitable as an aquarium plant. This Myriophyllum species, which is named after the Ecuadorian capital Quito, can presumably only be cultivated permanently as a cold-water plant, because it occurs naturally mainly in the mountain regions of western North America and in the Andes region and the southern part of South America. It colonises cold, clear lakes and rivers², e.g. Lake Titicaca in the Andean highlands on the border between Peru and Bolivia.