Range and localities [?]: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela1
Apalanthe granatensis, an aquatic plant from the South-American tropics, is closely related to the waterweed species from the genera Egeria and Elodea. It has narrow leaves of around 1 mm width and up to around 2 cm in length that grow in whorls of 3 to 7 on the stems. The leaf margin is very finely serrate, in contrast to the rather roughly serrate leaves of Egeria najas and Hydrilla verticillata.
This delicate waterweed-like stem plant was first imported from eastern Brazil by Christel Kasselmann in 1994, and it was successfully cultivated in several botanical gardens over some years. Today it doesn't seem to be in cultivation any more, at least in Europe.
- To be continued -
As already mentioned, Apalanthe granatensis has probably disappeared from cultivation, but according to Kasselmann (2010) it is a demanding but recommendable aquarium plant. It was kept successfully at 22-30 °C and also tolerated moderately hard, slightly alkaline water, although at the natural localities the carbonate and general hardness was less than 1 °dH.
One must note that Apalanthe granatensis is apparently sensitive to snail damage; in the case of the author mentioned above, the plant was lost this way.
References and further reading:
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