Echinodorus species identification

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Barry Tetra

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Hello everyone!

I bought this plant from a house plant store and apparently, they sold the plant as an “amazon lily”, they don’t know what species it is :/

I want to know what species this echinodorus is, can anyone Identify this?

I also need an instruction on how to take care of this emersed plant, can I put it in direct sunlight?


@Byron
 
Whoops, I always forgot to add the picture.

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Can you give a plant care guide?

I’m have no idea how to keep them emersed.
I just kept mine in a pot with normal potting mix and used a liquid plant fertiliser (Thrive) at half strength every week. I put the pot in a plastic tray for a bigger pot (eg: 30cm pot in a 50cm tray), and just watered it when it needed it. Basically water the plant from above so the potting mix is wet. Let the tray fill up with water then leave it until the water is gone before watering it again. Mine was in full sun all day but they can also be kept in part shade.
 
An Echinodorus species certainly, in the emersed (as opposed to submersed) leaf form. Without the flower and inflorescence, these species are not that easy to identify.

My review of Lehtonen's Key to the species in his "An integrative approach to species delimitation in Echinodorus (Alismataceae) and the description of two new species" (2008) leads me to suggest possibly E. subalatus, or perhaps E. grisebachii which is a highly polymorphic and phenotypically plastic species (Lehtonen, 2008). "Radican sword" refers to E. cordifolius [I provided an explanation of the name and other data on this species in another thread a couple of weeks back] and I wouldn't think this is the same plant because of the leaf description including "ovate to oval," but I can't be certain. If an inflorescence arises, and flowers appear, you/we will have better evidence for a more accurate ID.

"Emersed" means the roots are in a moist substrate (as in a marsh or bog) while the leaves grow into the air. Grown in this state, and provided the substrate is nutrient-rich, the plant will send out inflorescences and flowers will be produced from the nodes, followed of course by seeds. "Submersed" means the entire plant is grown under water, and the leaves will be shaped differently and constructed differently since submersed leaves have somewhat different functions than emersed. Flowers will not be produced, but adventitious plants will grow from the nodes of the inflorescences.
 
I just kept mine in a pot with normal potting mix and used a liquid plant fertiliser (Thrive) at half strength every week. I put the pot in a plastic tray for a bigger pot (eg: 30cm pot in a 50cm tray), and just watered it when it needed it. Basically water the plant from above so the potting mix is wet. Let the tray fill up with water then leave it until the water is gone before watering it again. Mine was in full sun all day but they can also be kept in part shade.
Glad to hear that I don't need any clay based substrate to grow.

How can I convert submerged plant to emersed form? I want to tried emersed cryptocoryne.
An Echinodorus species certainly, in the emersed (as opposed to submersed) leaf form. Without the flower and inflorescence, these species are not that easy to identify.

My review of Lehtonen's Key to the species in his "An integrative approach to species delimitation in Echinodorus (Alismataceae) and the description of two new species" (2008) leads me to suggest possibly E. subalatus, or perhaps E. grisebachii which is a highly polymorphic and phenotypically plastic species (Lehtonen, 2008). "Radican sword" refers to E. cordifolius [I provided an explanation of the name and other data on this species in another thread a couple of weeks back] and I wouldn't think this is the same plant because of the leaf description including "ovate to oval," but I can't be certain. If an inflorescence arises, and flowers appear, you/we will have better evidence for a more accurate ID.

"Emersed" means the roots are in a moist substrate (as in a marsh or bog) while the leaves grow into the air. Grown in this state, and provided the substrate is nutrient-rich, the plant will send out inflorescences and flowers will be produced from the nodes, followed of course by seeds. "Submersed" means the entire plant is grown under water, and the leaves will be shaped differently and constructed differently since submersed leaves have somewhat different functions than emersed. Flowers will not be produced, but adventitious plants will grow from the nodes of the inflorescences.
Thanks for the informative post Byron, I will post a picture of it once it flowered
 
How can I convert submerged plant to emersed form? I want to tried emersed cryptocoryne.
Have the plants in a tank or container with water. Make sure the plants are growing well and let the water evaporate by itself. As the water level drops, the plants will start producing terrestrial leaves.

The flower stalk on Echinodorus grown out of water are between 4-6 feet long and has small white flowers about 1 inch in diameter. The flowers occur about every 4-8 inches along the flower stalk. Each plant can produce several flower stalks at the same time.
 
I have a bunch of questions regarding sword plants and another tank that I’m going to recape to amazon sword species tank.

- It’s finally flowering for about a week and all flower bulbs seems to rot away, what happened?
- Helanthium tenellum, I’m going to my change my substrate from soil to gravel will, Do I have to cut it’s “chain” before planting it in gravel?
- How many Echinodorus bleheri can I put in a 24 inches long tank?
- How deep should the substrate be for Echinodorus bleheri to root well?
- Is there any sword species (other than pygmy) that are about 10 cm and is suitable for mid ground?

Lastly, @Byron can you post a picture of your Amazon sword tank with wild cories? I remember you post a picture of it before but can’t find it anymore, would you mind if I take some inspirations from your tank?
 
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A radican sword plant shouldn't have any issues with baby plants on a flower stalk. The only reason it would rot is if the plant was grown above water and the flower stalk was put under water after it had flowered. Or if it had a disease but that would kill the whole plant, not just the baby plants.

Was the plant grown under water?
Have you got pictures of it?
 
Can you post some photos of these issues, so we can see how they are being cultivated.

As for the photos of my cory tank(s), here are some. The first is the 115g 5-foot tank from 2010 with 60-70 wild Corydoras fish and it ran for some years until I changed the substrate from fine gravel to sand (Heiko Bleher scolded me for keeping cories over anything but sand!) in August 2011 and photo 2 is after the change (July 19, 2012). I had to tear this tank down about 4 years ago when I knew I would be moving and would inevitably be downsizing. Third photo is The 70g 4-foot tank as it was set up on February 14, 2016 that became the home for the cories then. And two years ago when I finally did move, the 40g 3-foot tank became and is now their home (photo 4).
 

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