Glossostigma

Glossostigma elatinoides is the short creeping plant at the centre of many aquascaping photographs: its leaves are barely a centimetre across and sit so flat against the substrate that a well-grown carpet looks mown. It is a native of Australia and New Zealand, and it is genuinely a foreground plant rather than a small stem plant that happens to stay short.

It spreads by runners just under the surface, and each runner sends up a new pair of leaves as it crosses the substrate. A few planted plugs will not cover a tank on their own; a carpet forms fastest when many small pieces are planted close together from the start. The plant is considered demanding, and it shows it.

It wants strong light, injected CO₂ and a nutrient-rich substrate, and it prefers soft, slightly acidic water at a pH of 4.5 to 7.5. Temperatures of 22 to 26 °C suit it. Under those conditions it grows fast enough to need frequent trimming; without them it stays sparse and the carpet thins out. It grows emersed readily and is half-hardy in cool climates.