Echinodorus leaf shape

[Nont]

Hi all,

I had a look at my echinodorus pictures from a year ago, and I noticed that my E. cordifolius (?) leaf shape changed from
Oval to heart shape to narrow, which I haven’t notice until now. Could anyone explain what’s causing this?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I noticed that my E. cordifolius (?) leaf shape changed from
Oval to heart shape to narrow,

I definitely wouldn't worry. the plant still looks really healthy.

I'd guess it probably relates to light and humidity. Echinodorus spp. are quite plastic in leaf shape, because they are going to spend periods immersed (narrower leaf) and periods emersed (wider leaf).

I'd guess that the newer leaves have formed under slightly higher light intensity than the older leaves, but it would be a guess.

You could also try a bit more fertiliser.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ria95]

i agree with Darrel. It's usually one of these gas exchange, light exposure or thermoregulation, but can't say I know which one would induce this change in Echinodorus

 

[Nont]

Cheers guys,
Will try increases humidity then, I think I like the look of cordate leaves more.

You could also try a bit more fertiliser.

Since ferts are getting more and more expensive nowadays, can those homemade organic liquid fertilizer be used?

 

[Nont]

My sword was transfered to an emersed box with a glasslid and 100% humidity last night. This morning, I failed to close the lid after opening it to trim some stem plants that were inside. About 2 hours later, I discovered that I had left it open and the all sword leaves had melted for some reasons.

Is it possible that humidity level of 100% causes plant to transfer it self into submerged form in one night which causes it to melt? @dw1305

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Is it possible that humidity level of 100% causes plant to transfer it self into submerged form in one night which causes it to melt?

I'm sorry to hear that, I'd guess it was just that the stomata were open (in the 100% humidity) and then the plant couldn't close them quickly enough to avoid massive water loss as the temperature rose and the humidity rapidly fell.

cheers Darrel

 

[Nont]

Hi all,

I'm sorry to hear that, I'd guess it was just that the stomata were open (in the 100% humidity) and then the plant couldn't close them quickly enough to avoid massive water loss as the temperature rose and the humidity rapidly fell.

cheers Darrel

@dw1305 I did another test; I tried keeping Echinodorus in high humidity again, and it did really awful, growing very slowly and somehow producing red submersed-like leaves that dried and drip when taken out of the box. (Box temperature is 33C, 80% RH) Compared to when I kept the same plant on the windy balcony, it was and had less humidity. The plant grows quite quickly with green hard emersed leaf that looks really healthy. Do you have any idea how it managed to produce this type of leaf despite not being submerged?

 

[Hufsa]

@dw1305 I did another test; I tried keeping Echinodorus in high humidity again, and it did really awful, growing very slowly and somehow producing red submersed-like leaves that dried and drip when taken out of the box. (Box temperature is 33C, 80% RH) Compared to when I kept the same plant on the windy balcony, it was and had less humidity. The plant grows quite quickly with green hard emersed leaf that looks really healthy. Do you have any idea how it managed to produce this type of leaf despite not being submerged?
View attachment 207701View attachment 207702

I have noticed something similar in my emersed mini greenhouses where I culture aquarium plants.
I think it happens when the surroundings become so humid that the plant cant quite tell if its under water or not.
This leading to it making slightly weird looking halfway leaves, or in other words, leaves that are sort of the midway point between submersed and emersed.
I see it especially if the top of a stem plant hits the roof of the mini greenhouse, leading to localized high humidity. The plant then makes submersed looking leaves despite them not really being appropriate for the setting. If the cause of the very high humidity is fixed (like bending the stem away from the roof), new leaves come out normally emersed looking again.
Perhaps its possible that these midway leaves are not very good? Theyre not good at water nor air because they are a mix, so they are just not very effective for the plant at all? Just a thought.

 

[LMuhlen]

In-vitro plants sometimes have those in between modes leaves as well...

 

[Tim Harrison]

Nice example of environmentally induced plasticity of leaf morphology. This might be of interest

Mechanisms Underlying the Environmentally Induced Plasticity of Leaf Morphology

The primary function of leaves is to provide an interface between plants and their environment for gas exchange, light exposure and thermoregulation. Leaves have, therefore a central contribution to plant fitness by allowing an efficient absorption of sunlight energy through photosynthesis to...

www.frontiersin.org