Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'

By

Brandon McLane

I first saw Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius’ during Interzoo exhibition in Nuremburg back in 2006 and was instantly impressed with the plant. The plant was displayed in Stoffels’ booth and knowing that Oriental aquarium in Singapore owned Stoffels I knew I was in luck. I had set up a meeting with Hai (Eu It Hai , owner of Oriental Aquarium) later that day. During that meeting I was informed that the plant had been protected so I was unable to come home with any. Fast forward to 2009 and Oriental Aquarium has made a limited number of them available worldwide at this point. Unable to hide my joy I imported some several months ago and have them in production both emersed and submersed.

Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius’ was discovered as a variant by a production manager at Oriental Aquarium according to Hai.  Hai also mentioned that this had been misreported in previous literature stating that Ms Hwang discovered the plant. The parent plant was Echinodorus angustifolia. Oriental Aquarium decided to market Echinodorus ‘Veusvius’ through Stoffels. Kelly Teo (Stoffels’ managing director) thought it reminded him of smoke and ash spiraling out of a volcano hence the name E. ‘Vesuvius'. 

Looking more like a Vallisneria than an Echinodorus it’s tightly twisted dark green leaves reach upward toward the surface. Although at first glance the leaves look much like Vallisneria, Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius’ leaves actually curl rather than twist on it’s axis which give a much tighter twisting appearance. It reproduces like most chain swords by runners arising at the base of the plant. We find that it is quite prolific in the submersed form and sends out runner readily. This is not the case in the emersed form for us. It does however flower readily in the emersed form and it is interesting to note the  flower stalk, like the leaves, twist rather tightly! Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius' requires moderate to high light and does best with a fertile substrate. Our maximum height appears to be about 10 inches.

Echinodorus ‘Vesuvius’ is a very interesting and decorative new Sword plant. We are excited to have the plant and make it readily available to the United States market. We believe that this will be a mainstay in the market for many years to come. We are also thankful to Eu It Hai for providing the information and the plant stock to start with.

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