# Heirloom aquatic plants



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Heirloom plants are cultivars that used to be widely grown in the past but now are scarce and in danger of being lost. There are many people who keep heirloom garden plants going and I believe there is a need for some volunteers to do the same in the aquatic plant hobby. An example of a cultivar you never see anymore is _Echinodorus parviflorus_. The Tropica variety is all you ever see these days. I think the wild form is nicer looking. Does anybody have it??? Another example is _Echinodorus bolivianum 'angustifolius_' (formerly _Echinodorus angustifolius_) A mutated variety with twisted leaves called E. vesuvius is readily available in the hobby, but does anyone have the wild type?

Can anyone else suggest more candidates for the aquatic heirloom plant list?

Wild type _E. parviflorus_ in 10 gallon tank


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i think i have e. angustifoius, narrow chain sword? is true that some plants mutate and the original dissapears...


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Darmain, if you have it, I would really like to get a plant of it from you!!

_E. bolivianus_ (_Helanthium bolivianum_) has submersed leaves usually three to five inches long. _E. angustifolius_ has narrower submersed leaves that can be up to two feet long. In nature, a mutation that makes a clearly visible change in the appearance of the wild type (a 'hopeful monster' mutation) almost never replaces the wild type. Mutations causing big changes are almost always eliminated because they lead to poor survival. Many mutations make very minor changes in the physiology or the appearance of an organism, and they may or may not improve survivability. I can't find anything about the ecology of _E. angustifolius_, but I bet that it lives in a different habitat than _E. bolivianus_, probably in deeper water. There is a German site that says that _E. angustifolius_ is triploid (3 sets of chromosomes, whereas _E. bolivianus_ is diploid (2 sets).

_E. angustifolius_, Rataj, 1975









Picture from http://rybicky.net/atlasrostlin/echinodorus_angustifolius


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

HeyPK,
Do you have a list of some heirloom plants? I'm sure many of us would like to get hold of some and continue the species.

I was wondering if my old Anubias barteri 'coffeefolia' was one. I have received good money from members in Hawaii for leaders of my plant. They say the new variety being sold as 'coffeefolia' is not the same. Mine has very deep ridges, large leafs, red stems and new leafs come in yellow.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

yeah that looks like what i have. unfortunatly i have very little mainly because i can't find a good spot in my tank to grow it. i got mine from a APC member last summer or so. i will move one into my other tank and see how it does. 

HEYPK, i seen a lot of tiny "coffefolias" recently, nothing like the big leaf'd ones i used to find 5-6 years ago... 

it would be awesome if we could post a sticky of who keeps what as far as these plants go to pass them along hobbyists =D


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## nfrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Paul,
i am keeping _E. angusitifolius _(also called _Helanthium angustifolium_, perhaps more correctly). I cant say whether or not it is the "wild" type, but it leaves are ~24" long. This is a picture from September 2010. Email me your address and i can send you some. I am continually throwing out runners. I am not sure I would call it an heirloom plant, since it only became know, at least to me, in the last 5-10 years. Not one that we see illustrated in the early literature. Neverthess, a very nice low maintenance background plant, but does benefit from a deep tank -- 24" deep 90g tank is shown. 









Here is an earlier picture of the same tank.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i might have bought mine from Neil up there, i don't remember but you have my feedback from that timeframe..  i got a TON and gave some away locally to a friend but mine didn't establish very well somehow.


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## Ceiji (Aug 5, 2010)

i got my e. angustifolius from Neil too, 3 or 4 months back. i already gave some in SnS 2 weeks before. and again, am also one of the guys who bought the 'original' coffeefolia from newt.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

My list presently is at two: _E. angustifolius_ and _E. parviflous _. There are probably many more. I recall a beautiful variety of Cryptocoryne affinis that was around in the late 1950's. It was a small plant that had much more intense colors that the affinis seen today. The underside of the leaf was a brilliant purple and the upper side was a dark blue-green.



Newt said:


> I was wondering if my old Anubias barteri 'coffeefolia' was one. I have received good money from members in Hawaii for leaders of my plant. They say the new variety being sold as 'coffeefolia' is not the same. Mine has very deep ridges, red stems and new leafs come in yellow.


Maybe you have a heirloom Anubias. It would be nice to see a picture of it alongside one of the new one.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I dont have a new variety to compare it to but here is a pic of it from many years ago:









and from about a year ago ago:


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Neil, for a long time you have been doing a wonderful job collecting and keeping a great collection of Echinodorus plants. Thanks for spreading them around! Just how many do you have?


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## nfrank (Jan 29, 2005)

too many to count... and they need thinning.  i will be happy to send some.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

thats a beautiful anubia!! very pronaunced markings and larger leaves! i took a picture of mine. i got it from a new sponsor of a locaal club, he probably got it from a nursery.. it has been in my tank for about a month. the leaf itself is little and the markins are not as deep.. put me down on a list as i want to be your next customer  the picture is an underwater shot btw 

i also took some pics of my crypt affinis, woudl the one you mention be similar to this or deeper colors? i got these locally from another hobbyist a few months back  the last picture is a newer leaf btw.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I haven't seen any of these in a while:
_Lagarosiphon madagascariensis_ - used to be everywhere!
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=102

_Hygrophila sp._ 'Red' - I really think this is a _Staurogyne._ It got pretty big and doesn't seem to be around any more (if you have this I want it!)
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=134

_Blyxa vietii_ - aka 'Vietnam'

_Limnophila sp_. 'Guinea Broad Leaf' - hasn't even been that long. cool little plant
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=327

_Persicaria_/_Polygonum sp_. 'Acre' - it was a nice plant. Gone from the hobby?
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=252

The current name for the 'Angustifolius' sword is _Helanthium bolivianum_ 'Angustifolius'.

_E. parviflora_ has been folded into_ E. grisebachii_ along with _E. blehera_e and _E. amazonicus_. Still good to differentiate between the different forms I suppose. 
http://www.springerlink.com/content/a55778r74641u368/
(click download PDF)


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

> E. parviflora has been folded into E. grisebachii along with E. bleherae and E. amazonicus. Still good to differentiate between the different forms I suppose.


The lumpers are supreme in _Echinodorus_, but the splitters are having a field day with the birds. The birdwatchers are all adding pages to their life lists.

I still think that the narrow-leaved _E. uruguayensis_ should be separated from the red and the green horemanii swords. The former produces floating leaves and the latter look quite different and never produce floating leaves.

_Cryptocoryne usteriana_ is getting more available while _C. aponogetifolia_ has disappeared. If anybody has it, I would like to get a plant, even a little one.

I have one rare plant, a hybrid between _Aponogeton rigidifolius_ and _Aponogeton crispus _. Years ago, I sent out a few plants of it to somebody, but I don't know if he still has it. It propagates very slowly by new plants coming up from the rhizome.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

ddavila06 said:


> thats a beautiful anubia!! very pronaunced markings and larger leaves! i took a picture of mine. i got it from a new sponsor of a locaal club, he probably got it from a nursery.. it has been in my tank for about a month. the leaf itself is little and the markins are not as deep.. put me down on a list as i want to be your next customer  ...............................


You are about #12 inline. No kidding. I get PMs all the time. I've sent about 10 plant leaders to Hawaii. I got lucky the last trim. It had put out leaders all around and was growing in all directions and got huge. The piece I kept has already made a new leader and blossomed twice.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Damian said:


> i also took some pics of my crypt affinis, would the one you mention be similar to this or deeper colors?


It is not the same. The plant I recall was way back when they called it Cryptocoryne haerteliniana. It was back when guppies were a newly introduced fish, and veil tail guppies had not been developed. It may have been a different species altogether. This was a small plant with short, broad, bullated leaves, dark blue green on top with a lighter midrib, and intense red-violet underneath. Today's affinis is a much larger plant with longer, narrower leaves and less intense colors. Some varieties of it have brighter undersides, such as yours, Damian, than others which had a more brown-yellow color. I used to have an old book on tropical fish by William T. Innis that I think had a black and white picture of it. Maybe I still have that book packed away in a box somewhere.


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## Noto (Oct 26, 2009)

Cavan Allen said:


> I haven't seen any of these in a while:
> _Lagarosiphon madagascariensis_ - used to be everywhere!
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=102


_Lagarosiphon_ is on a couple of state prohibited lists (based on _L. major_, I'm sure, but I think the whole genus is listed). This may have discouraged importers/propagators.


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## AzFishKid (Aug 22, 2009)

Cavan Allen said:


> _Persicaria_/_Polygonum sp_. 'Acre' - it was a nice plant. Gone from the hobby?
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=252


I've been desperately looking for this plant for a while now-- if anyone has any leads of who may have it, please let me know. I'd love to make it more common in the hobby again.


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