I recently added a couple small bunches of the Malaysian marsh plant, L. hippuridoides, to my high tech planted 38 gallon. I thought I would take this opportunity to write a small literature review of the species for anyone considering adding this striking plant to their setup.
L. hippuridoides is too new to the hobby to have any popular common names and several scientific names have been misapplied to the species from older descriptions. It is a stemmed flowering plant characterized by its serrated leaves and is native to the marshes of the Malaysian peninsula in South East Asia. It grows fairly quickly under high light and supplemental CO2 and reaches 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter. This plant can live between 60 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and does well in the aquarium within a normal tropical range of 76 to 81 degrees. L. hippuridoides can grow in a wide carbonate hardness range between 2 and 12 dKH.
With proper nutrient dosing this species develops a beautiful green and purple coloration. For this reason, I recommend placing a few small bunches throughout your other green plants so they really pop. I placed my small bunch in the background and will wait for it to fill in the back left corner.
To trim L. hippuridoides, simply cut a few inches below the desired max height at the node of the stem. Cut stems shorter in the front to create a slope. The newly cut node will branch multiple off-shoots. Cut away the aberrant off-shoots that do not match the shape of the slope. You can even plant the trimmed tops into the substrate around older stems. They will root and create a larger, bushier grouping.