Short's hedgehyssop

Short's hedgehyssop is a small North American marsh plant that the trade sells mostly in a compact form for the aquarium foreground. The stems carry pairs of narrow green leaves and stay short, and the plant's main appeal is its slow, tidy habit: it creeps along the front of a tank without taking over the way fast foreground plants do.

It grows by cuttings and by splitting older clumps, and it does best when given time to settle. Moderate light suits it; very high light is not needed. It tolerates a normal range of water conditions, including a pH of 6 to 7.5, and temperatures of 18 to 26 °C cover the usual aquarium range.

Because cultivation data on this plant is thin even in the databases, the care figures here are estimates rather than source-confirmed values. In practice it behaves like an easy, slow foreground plant that rewards patience: planted as a small clump, it gradually forms a low mat over several weeks without the constant trimming that faster species demand.