Echinodorus 'Brauner Elefant'

Echinodorus 'Brauner Elefant' is a cultivated hybrid with no natural occurrence. How strongly its young foliage is coloured brown depends on the lighting; submersed leaves are elongated, whereas emersed ones are oval and heart-shaped.¹ Above water this robust plant grows about 120 cm tall, its blades then being 9–20 cm long; the heart leaf is reddish brown.² In the aquarium it stays much smaller at 15–20 cm in height.¹² A cultivar register cross-refers from it to 'Dschungelstar Nr. 6 Roter Elefant' without explaining how the two names are related.¹

The cultivar is considered easy to keep and is used as a specimen plant; it can be propagated by young plants on the inflorescence or by rhizome division. Smaller specimens adapt more readily to cultivation under water.² It also grows emersed and is suitable for garden ponds, where it can be placed at the margin and is partly winter-hardy.²