Echinodorus bleheri
Echinodorus bleherae
Also known asAmazon sword (broad-leaf form) · Echinodorus grisebachii (accepted synonym) · Bleher sword
Water parameters
Light and nutrients
Substrate type: nutrient preferred. Propagation: adventitious plantlets on flower stalks.
Substrate compatibility
| Substrate | pH effect | Nutrient load |
|---|---|---|
| Aquasoil (ADA Amazonia) | lowers pH | very high |
| Mineralized clay substrate (Seachem Fluorite) | neutral / inert | moderate |
| Dirted tank (mineralized topsoil) (DIY soil substrate) | slightly acidic | very high |
| Inert sand (Pool filter sand) | neutral / inert | none |
With fish
Origin and habitat
The aquarium plant sold as 'Echinodorus bleheri' is Echinodorus bleherae Rataj (1970), which current taxonomy treats as a synonym of the accepted Amazon sword, Echinodorus grisebachii (family Alismataceae; POWO places the species in Aquarius). Botanically it is the same plant as the standard Amazon sword, and the two, along with the name E. amazonicus, are routinely confused and mislabelled in the trade; 'bleheri' usually denotes a broader, slightly more robust-leaved form. The name honours the Bleher family of aquatic-plant and fish collectors. It forms a large rosette of broad, bright-green leaves from a central crown over a deep root system, native to South America. Like other swords it often grows emersed as a marginal in the wild, and nursery emersed leaves give way to narrower, more translucent submersed leaves over a few weeks after planting.
Care notes
Care is identical to the standard Amazon sword. It is a heavy root feeder that needs a nutrient-rich substrate or root tabs; in plain gravel the leaves yellow with iron and potassium deficiency. Plant the crown at the substrate surface with roots buried in at least 5 cm of substrate, and push in iron-bearing root tabs every few months. Moderate light is enough, and neither high light nor CO2 is required, though both speed growth. Mature plants are large, 30–50 cm tall and about 30 cm across, big enough for one to fill a small tank, so it belongs in tanks of roughly 120 litres or more as a background focal point. It propagates by plantlets that form along a flower stalk; once a plantlet has four or five leaves and roots, detach and plant it, and trim old yellow outer leaves at the base. The broad sturdy leaves resist all but the most determined herbivores. It is an ornamental rosette, not a crop, so it is unsuited to media-bed aquaponics or hydroponics.