[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #1593




    * From: "Robert H" <robertph3 at attbi_com>


Neil Frank: >>According to the latest Echindorus taxonomy, both
of these plants would be called E. uruguayensis. In this grouping, the leaf
width and length can vary depending on the original site.<<

Robert H: >>Well I have grown uruguayensis before, and while I have read in
APD over the years before that uruguayensis and horemanii are one and the
same, I see distinct differences. Mine got quite large, but the leaves
themselves were
much narrower, and consistently every time I have purchased the plant.
Really not any wider than a Crinum. And the suppliers that sell rosefolia
and horemanii also sell uruguayensis. Three different plants, three
different prices, and each have a distinctive look. Are they different
varities or come from different strains? What would make Gasser's horemanii
different from any other horemanii?  One grower once told me that there is a
narrow leaf uruguayensis and a wide leaf uruguayensis variety. Is this true,
or the imagination of the grower? >>

Kasselmann, in Aquarienpflanzen, has the red horemanii, the green
horemanii, and the narrow-leaved green uruguayensis all lumped together in
the genus uruguayensis.  I have the red horemanii/rosefolia, but mine has
never been as red as Neil's plants or Robert's.  I got my plant from John
Pitcairn, back in the early '80's.  My plant has red new growth, but the
older leaves are green. The leaf shape is the same.  My plants, which have
always been on long day, have never flowered, but John Pitcairn's, which
were being grown in shallow pools in his back yard in San Diego in
December, as I recall, were flowering.  I have had the narrow-leaved green
horemanii, and, in my opinion, it is not closely related to the red and
green horemanii varieties.  When I had it in a 75 gallon tank it started
producing floating leaves with oval blades and very long stems.  The blades
were about 7 inches long and 4 inches wide, and the stems were three to
four feet long.  The transformation from the long, narrow submersed leaves
to the floating leaves was sudden without any intermediate types of leaves.
I eventually got tired of the plant, which was much too big for the 75
gallon tank, and ripped it out and restarted it after having removed all
the leaves and roots.

Paul Krombholz in cold rainy central Mississippi