Favourite plant(s)?

[Mettle]

Seeing as there are quite a few people on this forum who are very into plants, I thought I'd toss this question out there for a couple of reasons. One, for fun. Two, to maybe expose people who don't keep plants yet to a couple varieties.

So the question is as per the topic - what is/are your favourite aquarium plant(s)? If you could list the scientific name, a common name if there is one, a little bit on the care you provide for it personally or the setup it's in and how it's doing, and possibly even a picture (original or borrowed, just to show what the plant is) that'd be great!

Cheers! 

[mseguin]

I like Hygrophila polysperma because its fairly colourful and also relatively easy to keep. I also like crypts, small but very beautiful plants.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Because I just wanted to see what I could grow when I first set up my aquarium, I have about one or two of everything

One of the coolest plants is my Banana lily, Nymphoides aquatica.  Here's a pic of what one of mine looked like shortly after I bought it:

http://thesmiths.atspace.com/images/aquarium/banana1_l.jpg

At the beginning, it had only four leaves.  When a new leaf grew (every 2 days), an old one would die.  Once it began to establish itself a little better, it put out an amazing number of roots to anchor itself into the substrate.  Here's another shot from a couple of months ago:

http://thesmiths.atspace.com/images/aquarium/banana3_l.jpg

I don't have a current picture of just the plant, but now it's HUGE!  It has about 10 leaves, each about half the size of my hand.  It also sent out a huge shoot (grew about 2 inches per day!) and a lily pad is now floating on the surface of the water.  Here's my most recent shot of my tank, you can see the lily in it:

http://thesmiths.atspace.com/aquarium/april06.html

[Jason]

Seeing that I'm very new to planted tanks (having just set up my first fully planted tank two days ago) I would have to say that out of the 8 or so plants I've started with Riccia (Thanks Toss) is by far my favorite. It looks great as a carpeting plant over a nice piece of Mopani and I  love the look of it when it gets covered in tiny little bubbles.

[CryptKeeper88]

im a big fan of the easy swords like the e.parviflorus . its small for a sword (12") but really looks good.when i bought it it was growing green but now its growing red with black veins. really cool.

[Seanc]

I realy like my Ech. cordifolius. i like its big leaves, that grow out and create a nice place for fish. i also like glosso, but whn i got it had a hard time growing it because a fish kept on eating it . also anubias, because it looks realy good when there is no algea, and when it is on a nice peice of drift wood.
I recently got some plants from jetstream, and i like them alot, but i forget the name of them  . they looked realy good in his tank as a ground cover and i hope i can get mine to grow like that.

I have a high light tank, with CO₂ injection, and i fertilise about 3 times a week.

[RoxyDog]

My vote is for crypts.    Nice and easy!

[CryptKeeper88]

Crypts really rock. i have more success with some and less with others. my favs so far are wendtii mi oya and wendtii broad leaves. i have the petchii but it ssems to get covered in algea no matter what.one of my next crypts is the affinis. its supposed to multiply fast and make gorgeous stands

[fishycanuck]

L. repens, 'cos it's my first and I haven't killed it yet.

[luvfishies]

In addition to Crypts, I have to say my all-time fave is Java Fern Windelov, the Lace Java Fern.

Gorgeous. Easy. Robust. oh and did I mention Gorgeous!

Riccia is up there, too. Reminds me I have to do another CO2 batch

[kennyman]

I would say Vallisneria is may favorite plant. I like it because it is so incredibly hardy and useful. It gives my tanks a natural look to them as well as provides a vertical accent I need in the taller tanks I use. It does very well in hard water and even survives in my brackish tank.

I have the thinner leaved variety that does not grow overly tall. My fish do all the maintained for me, I never have to prune the stuff, just thin out the daughter plants from time to time