as others have noted, Ipomoea aquatica is a vegetable known as water spinach in asian cuisines, it's distinctive due to its hollow stems. it's quite good sauteed in a chili/brown sauce, or simply with garlic. also known as kangkung or kangkong, which i'm not sure if it's cantonese or hokkien. i believe it has small white morning-glory flowers. i don't know if it has a tuber or thick stems. years ago, i posted an inquiry in the aquatic-plant list (a list for those that grow plants in aquaria) about whether people grew these in open-ended aquaria. it's a large plant so i can't imagine the casual fishkeeper growing this, i'd think you'd need large open tanks with high light, just like with water lilies (Nymphaeas). well, to my surprise i got no responses except from the government. someone from the USDA wrote me to tell me that such plant is an invasive pest and that owning it would put me at risk of fines and other penalties! it was obviously a form letter, but i thought it was too funny, if somewhat scary, that they were monitoring the list for verboten words... so if any gov't agency is monitoring this list, please note: i do not have any of this plant at my house, nor Cannabis, nor sichuan peppercorns, nor kudzu, nor have i ever been a member of the nazi or communist parties... ========= tsuh yang __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com/