Shinnersia rivularis

Shinnersia rivularis, the Mexican oak leaf, is a member of the daisy family that inhabits slow-flowing streams and rivers in Texas and northern Mexico.¹ It reached aquarists under its former name Trichocoronis rivularis.¹ The richly branched stems are hairy only above water and reach up to approx. 1 m in length; the light green to brownish leaves are opposite, very variable in shape and more or less sinuate at the margin.¹

This very fast-growing background plant is regarded as undemanding but has a high light requirement; water hardness and substrate matter little to it.¹ It is also listed among plants for cool, unheated aquariums.² Emersed, it thrives in paludariums or, in summer, at the edge of a pond, where it flowers profusely in white.¹ The pale-veined cultivar 'Weiß-Grün' is infected with a virus; when grown emersed, the virus can infect other plants.¹