A species growing shorter and more compact than E. acicularis in submersed form. Previously, this plant was marketed as E. parvula but the naming was clarified by Kasselmann(2010).

This plant is a light shade of green with hair-like leaves. It produces creeping runners with single or rosette-like leaves arranged. The root system is not very large but due to its growing habit it can easily be planted in most substrates. This plant should be treated like grass, to get a low and thick carpet you can trim it quite low. The trimmed leaves will not grow any longer and act like damaged leaves, meaning they may attract algae. For this reason, try and cut as low to the substrate as possible.

The plant will survive without CO2 and in medium light conditions, but doesn’t grow as dense or as fast.

Most problems with the plant occur when it is newly acquired and still in emersed form. The potted plants are too pressed together and prone to melting. It is best to separate them in small portions as soon as possible.

The plant adapts quite easily to emersed growing conditions. As such it can be used when aquariums are started using the Dry Start Method (DSM)

Photo 1,2: Submersed E. pusilla . Source : Mihai Zamfir (Allwissend), 2017. All rights reserved. Used with permission.