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Thanks everyone for the flower ID

That leaves me only with the problems of:

- Why does one have this loooooong floating leaf? It grew at least 6 inches in one day (stem and leaf together).
- Why does the second flower stem (the one that is not pictured) float on the surface rather than pierce it? Too much current in that area would be my assumption.

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I don’t know if it helps any further in the identification of this plant, but I will post another shot of the flower anyways .

This is probably the last one of this particular flower as it has reached the glass top of the tank and when putting the top back on (after the photo) the blossom was pushed further down and touched the water. All pollen floated away.

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Bensaf,

Thanks for the compliment on the photo, I like it too. Flowers in and above tanks have some beautiful tranquility to it.

As for Natans or Crispus, guess I will just wait and see if the one plant in question starts to fully turn evil and only produces floating leaves. Then it would be time for it to say bye-bye.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Great photo

As far as I know theCrispus flower is white also. Like Crypts it would take an expert to find the minute differences in the flower.

Looks exactly the same as the flowers I had though.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Well,

The one Apon that created 2 floating leaves so far (but also at least 2 submersed ones) finally had a flower coming up that actually starts to blossom.

If only the Natans creates white flowers, then I guess that is what it is. What color/shape are the flowers of the crispus supposed to be?

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Trust me Bensaf, this one was dead .

It may look pretty green in the picture but it really was much darker and all crispy, no juice in it anymore what so ever.

Does the flower portion float on the water surface?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It may not have been dried out.

The flower shoot goes through a lot of changes.

Once they pierce the surface (they rarely grow stright up, they tend to snake around as if trying to find the surface) the flower section stretches out to 5 or 6 times it's previous lenght. It will then start showing little dots or dry pod like things which will eventually turn into tiny white flowers. The white flowered section will continue to grow a bit further and may twist and turn. Eventually the flowers dry out and drop off.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

And here is the dried out flower shoot .

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A quick update on the Apon Growths

The one plant created its second floating leaf. I cut off the first one last weekend.

One of the other two created a new flower shoot. Unfortunately it dried out once it was above the water surface. Is it supposed to float on the water? I also cut the previous 2 off last weekend as one was floating on the water and didn’t seem to develop any buds and the other dried out just like this one.

Here is the new leaf

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Gang,

I have a question for all that might have any knowledge about Aponogeton Crispus or plants that grow in similar fashion. I added 3 small plants of this species to my 125G about 3 weeks ago and they are growing nicely. The serrated leaves have by now reached the water surface.

About 3 days ago I noticed that each plant has one round stem (in cross section) growing out of its base. I though it might be a flowering stem. Well, not having been able to look at the tank for the last 2 days (Office Xmas party ) I was very surprised when I saw the tank last night.

These stems grew really long, I would say they are now over 30”. At the end is not a flower but a non-serrated 5 inch long very narrow leaf.

Any idea what that is and why the plant grows this way?

Thanks in advance,

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You'll love the flowers. They're very pretty.

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Cake or death?

Hmmm...I thought I had A. crispus 'till they started putting up floaters

Yup, I agree with ben on the flower stem...definately a flower...

Have fun with it

The second Kasselman describtion is referring to the flower stalk (inflorescense).

The last pic you posted is 100% certain a flower stalk. It will continue to get longer until it pierces the surface. The stubby thing will then stretch out and turn into a very long white flower, or rather lot's of tiny little white flowers all lined up. Just like in the picture of the Natans you linked.

To the untrained eye the flowers of natana and crispus look identical. An expert could tell the difference by the flowers.In plants like thse and particularly crypts the flower is often the ONLY way to distinguish the defferent species. I'm no expert.

Last edited by bensaf at 22-Dec-2005 19:44

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

And here is a sample of how the end of the other 2 sticks (one on each plant) look like:

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Gang (and in particular Bensaf – if you are reading this),

I did some more research about the Apon Crispus, or whatever it is .

Interesting is that Christel Kasselmann in her book “Aquarium Plants” writes the following about the Crispus:

“Submersed leaf blade up to 10cm petiolate, strap-shaped, with undulate and crisped, rarely flat margin, up to 50cm long, 4.5 cm wide, light to dark green or reddish brown coloration.”

So far so good, but the next sentence is:

“Blade of the floating leaves up to 20cm long, 5cm wide”

So this plant has floating leaves as well, hm?

Peduncle (which I suppose is the flower stem) is up to 75cm long, thickened toward the inflorescence. Spathe up to 2.5cm long (no idea what that means).

Well, I checked my plants again. The 3 plants each have one stem sticking out but they seem to be different. While one clearly has a leaf at the end (first picture), the second has a small “thing” at the end that doesn’t look like it would turn into a leaf. Inflorescence? The third one has the same, but is still shorter and doesn’t float at the surface yet (picture 2).

Any info?

Ingo

The Leaf:

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I just checked the provider's web site. They also sell a plant called Aponogeton natans. It says to it:

"is found in Sri Lanka and India. Its leaves are mostly floating, with only the long slender petiole below the surface of the water"

I guess that is the one you mean Bensaf, right?

Next I looked at some pictures of crispus and natans. While it looks more like the first one in some of them, it looks more like the second one in others.

Arizona Gardens has a [link=Picture]http://www.azgardens.com/images/natans.gif" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] where one can see the long skinny stems of with narrow short leaves on the ends. If this pic was taken in a really tall tank then I think that is it

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Bensaf,

Thanks for the information. So far, each one of the 3 plants has only one of these kinds of stems (two stems are long, the other one is still growing). I will take a closer look tonight, maybe I can also get a good shot of the leaf on the end of these stems.

Would be a bummer if I got the false Crispus, I like the way the submersed leaves look and gently sway in the current. If so then the supplier will for sure hear about it]:|

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Definately not a flower stalk ?

You may not have a true Crispus. There's another species of Apon. Aponogeton Nana. It's identical in appearance to crispus, but there's one horrible difference it's really a floater.

Once matured it's stops putting out submersed leaves and puts out leaves that float on the surface.

Got stuck with one once, looked great like a Crispus for while but then did the floating thing. All that was visible in the water were stalks.

I dumped it.

It may just be a few freak leaves. Watch and see what happens. If it continues to send out the long leaves it may be Apon. Nana.

Last edited by bensaf at 22-Dec-2005 07:58

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.