Echinodorus amazonicus, and Echinodorus bleheri

by Twyla Lindstrom-Peters
From "Fins & Friends" Regina Aquarium Society, Canada
Aquarticles

Echinodorus Amazonicus
This beautiful plant is also known as Echinodorus brevipedicellutus. It originates in Brazil and the mid to lower region of the Amazon River basin. It is usually utilised as a centre or focal plant in the aquarium as it gets to be quite large (as do some other Echinodorus species). It can easily grow to 16 inches in height and has light green, linear, lanceolate, and arched leaves which are 3/4 - 11/4 inches wide (2-3 cm). There are three veins extending from the base to the tip of the leaf and two less prominent veins closer to the edges. The first pair of lateral veins come from the central rib, just above the base of the blade. The blade is much longer than the petiole.

This plant is often confused with Echinodorus bleheri which is the more common of the two plants. This plant does poorly in very hard water. It likes medium bright light, warm water and a medium fine gravel bed. Propagation is by adventitious roots or by runner. It prefers a pH of 6.5-7.2 and a temp. of 74-82 degrees F (24-28 degrees C).

Like most Echinodorus species, it grows well both submersed and emersed. In nature, these plants are more often bog type plants with the roots submersed and the leaves up above the water. The floral stalk is thin and comes up out of the water. It may have four to nine white flowers forming on the nodes on the stalk. If left in the water, these flowers won't open. Emersed however, they open nicely and can be fertilized with a feather. The pollen is powdery yellow. The seeds take a long time to form and really only look like a dried up crown in the centre of the long dried flower. Plantlets form best along the nodes that are submersed. They may also develop emersed if the humidity is fairly high above the water but these plantlets don't grow roots until the plantlets are submersed. Once roots form on the plantlets, they can be gently wiggled off the runner and planted. Be careful not to break or damage the runner as more plantlets will grow on the same runner in a few months!

The original "mother" plant tends to drop many of its larger leaves when it starts developing runners and results in a smaller but still very attractive plant.

Echinodorus bleheri, a.k.a. Echinodorus paniculatus and Echinodorus pangeri, is another very beautiful, large Amazon sword plant and is ideally suited to the novice (or anyone) who wishes a large, easy to grow, focal or centre plant which also appreciates "rich" gravel and withstands snails, fish nibbles, and a fair range of light. It also withstands algae from too much light fairly well. It adds to the oxygenation of the water and one can often see streams of very tiny air bubbles rising to the surface originating from one of the bright to dark green leaves. The roots help break down fish detritus, it contributes to the nitrogen cycle, and adds an element of stability to the whole environment of the aquarium. As you may have guessed, I really like this plant!

It originates in the tropical parts of South America. It has durable, thick bright to dark green lanceolate leaves which are12 - 20 inches long (30-50cm) and 1 1/2 - 3 1/4 inches wide (4-8 cm). Both ends of the leaf are pointed and have two inner longitudinal veins which extend from a point near the end of the central vein with two other parallel veins seen near the base (not from the base as in the Echinodorus amazonicus). There are also numerous, very tiny cross veins which may be dark green to brown. This plant does well in hard as well as softer water and does best under medium bright light. The leaves will yellow when lacking iron. Most liquid plant fertilisers available for the aquarium contain a large amount of chelated iron. Propagation of this plant is usually by adventitious plants which form frequently at the crown of the plant. These new, often fairly large plants can be easily untangled from the parent plants roots but the whole plant must be uprooted to accomplish this.

The plant prefers a pH of 6.5-7.5 and a temp. of 75-82 degrees F (24-28 degrees C). It strongly resembles an Echinodorus amazonicus but the leaves of Echinodorus bleheri are broader and sometimes straight. Each plant may consist of 20-30 leaves 20-40 cm. long by 40-60 mm. wide. It may develop a floral stalk (just as Echinodorus amazonicus does) with buds and plantlets at each node. These buds also open only when emersed and can then be fertilised with a feather. The roots will developed on the submersed plantlets and the little plants can then be gently wiggled off the stalk. Try not to damage the stalk as more plantlets should appear in a few months, though this plant generally propagates far more frequently by adventitious plants.