Book recommendations, and newbie questions?

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Book recommendations, and newbie questions?
From: pstaeh at aplcomm_jhuapl.edu (Peter Staehling)
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 13:35:00 -0400

Hi,
  Could someone please recommend a good book to use as a reference on 
aquarium plants?
  Also I purchased a plant being sold as a ruffled sword.  It looks a lot
like an a. mad. without the "holes".  The areas where the holes would be 
are either concave or convex.  It is dark green and rather transluscent.
The stems and bulb look somewhat like a. mad. to my very untrained eye.
Does anyone know what it is and what it requires.  I was told that it would
do ok in my setup, but I am skeptical of what sales people tell me.  The 
tank I hope it will do well in is as follows:
                55 g.
                2 - 24" tritons
                3" of 1/16 to 1/8" gravel over a thin layer of peat moss
                7.1 PH (down from 7.4 after using DIY yeast CO2)
                77 degrees f.
                ~25% water changes weekly
                2 tsp. Kent plant food with the weekly waterchange
  Amazon Swords are doing very well, as are Anubias and Hygro.  Hair grass
and Jungle Vals seem to be ok but they are still pretty new and the jury is
still out.  Pygmy Swords are putting out new growth but the old growth is a
little brown.  The tank is well cycled but not extremely mature.
  Any suggestions about this plant or the general set-up appreciated.
                        Pete