Bill, You stated that it grows from the un-submerged banks (if I may paraphrase) and I believe that the Aeschynomene fluitans actually is a floating plant, not one that grows from the soil.
There are several plants in the Aeschynomene genus that look very similar. I even have some that look like it growing in some of my meadows far from water. I am thinking that we are talking about different plants that look and act very much the same (with the exception of where the roots tend to reside).
According to some of my web reading, the Aeschynomene fluitans comes from places like Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia (all south Africa).
Don't get me wrong, I don't know diddly about this plant just what little I have found on the web and truly appreciate any and all conversation on the subject. I am going to do some more digging for web info on these guys and see if I can gain that comfort level of putting them in the pond.
