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Re: Aponogeton henkelianus, Narrow leaf lace plant
* From: "Robert H" <robertph3 at attbi_com>
OK, since we are talking about Aponogetons, I will use this to segway into
an Apon that is definetly not a Walmart plant!
Aponogeton henkelianus is a narrow leaf "lace plant"or skeleton leaf plant
as it is sometimes called. The main difference between this and the
Madagascar Lace plant that I am aware of is it's leaf size and structure.
The leaves are generaly not more than 2" wide, and it's leaves are more of a
fine mesh or screen see-thru, where as its larger cousin has much thicker
skeleton like veins in the leaves...(does that make sense?) Does anyone
have any more info on this plant? Here is a picture of it from Oriental
Aquariums' catalog: http://www.aquabotanic.com/images/narrowlace.jpg
the picture from Oriental Aquariums catalog, was pretty small, but the
flower in the inset identified it for me. I have had this plant. It has
longer narrower leaves than the other two kinds of lace plants. Kasselmann
lumps all the lace plants together as A. madagascariensis (and the picture
she shows is a plant of this variety that looks like it is dying). I have
doubts that this narrow leaved lace plant should be in the same species
with the other two. Muhlberg lists A. madagascariensis, A. henkelianus,
and A. guillotii. The first two are more similar with broad leaves and
white twin-spiked flowers. The other is what Robert is describing now as
A. henkelianus!! Whatever it is called, it is definitely different. It
has five-spiked pink to purple flowers. It also has a barrier to
self-fertilization, which the twin spiked varieties or species lack. It is
also a much bigger plant that got too big for my 75 gallon tank. The
leaves plus petioles got to be about 2.5 feet long, and the flowers had
stems over 1/2 inch thick. There was no telling how big it would have
gotten if it had been in a bigger tank and had been fertilized properly.
Paul Krombholz in cooling central Mississippi, where a cold front came
through this morning.