River Buttercup

River buttercup is an Australian buttercup that behaves like a ground-cover plant rather than a stem plant. Its leaves are finely divided and look almost fern-like, carried on short stalks from a creeping base, and under good light a healthy patch takes on a bright, fresh green. It is a foreground species that spreads across the front of a tank without climbing upward.

It grows by runners and by splitting established clumps, and a few planted pieces fill a strip of foreground within a few weeks. It comes from the southeastern and southwestern parts of Australia, where it grows in shallow, seasonally wet ground and along stream edges. Warm water of 22 to 28 °C suits it well, and it prefers soft to moderately soft water at a pH of 5 to 7.

Moderate to strong light keeps the growth compact; weaker light makes the leaves stretch and the carpet turn loose. CO₂ is recommended to keep the patch dense, though it will grow without it at a slower pace. It can also be grown emersed on damp substrate, which makes propagating a large foreground quicker before the tank is flooded.