The Lagenandra Care Guide: Cryptocoryne's Tougher Cousin

Lagenandra is the plant people reach for when they want something that looks like a Cryptocoryne but holds its colour better and melts less. It is a close relative — same family, same part of the world, same rosette habit — and yet the single most common way to kill one is to plant it the way you would plant a Crypt.

Do not bury the rhizome

Cryptocoryne grow from a buried crown and feed through their roots. Lagenandra grow from a thick creeping rhizome that sits on the substrate, and that rhizome rots if it is covered. Push the roots into the soil, leave the rhizome itself exposed, and let it creep along the surface. If the plant keeps lifting, wedge it between two small stones rather than burying it deeper.

This also means Lagenandra can be treated like a semi-epiphyte. Tied to a piece of driftwood with the roots trailing into the substrate below, it does very well — a placement no Cryptocoryne would tolerate.

Slow, and that is normal

Expect one new leaf every few weeks under good conditions. Lagenandra do not respond to more light and CO2 by growing faster the way stem plants do; they respond by growing larger, thicker leaves and deeper colour. A plant that has not produced a leaf in a month is not necessarily struggling. Check the rhizome: if it is firm, the plant is fine.

The transition melt

Almost all Lagenandra sold are grown emersed. The broad, matte leaves that arrive will thin, soften and eventually dissolve over the first three to six weeks as the plant swaps them for submerged growth, which is smaller, glossier and often more intensely coloured. This is the same process Cryptocoryne go through and it is not a sign of a problem. Leave the plant alone, keep the rhizome exposed and wait for the new leaves.

What is a problem is a rhizome that has gone soft. That is rot, almost always from burial or from a heavily decaying old leaf base sitting against it. Cut back to firm tissue and replant with the rhizome in open water.

Light and colour

All species grow in low to moderate light. Lagenandra meeboldii 'Red' is the one that changes most: under low light it settles into a bronze-green, and under moderate to high light with CO2 the leaves darken to a deep wine red with a slightly metallic sheen. The green form stays green regardless. Colour is a light response, not a nutrient response — adding iron will not turn a shaded plant red.

Which species fits which tank

L. meeboldii (red and green forms) — the standard aquarium Lagenandra. Leaves 3–6 inches, plant stays around 6–8 inches tall. Midground in most tanks, foreground in large ones.

L. keralensis — narrower, more upright leaves and a slightly smaller footprint. The tidiest of the group for a nano or midground cluster.

L. ovata (Malayan Sword) — a genuinely large plant. Fully submerged it slows dramatically and rarely reaches its potential; it is at its best with leaves growing out of the water in a paludarium, riparium or open-top tank, where it can pass 18 inches. Buy it for that, not as a background plant for a closed aquarium.

Propagation

Division of the rhizome. Wait until a side branch has at least three or four leaves and visible roots of its own, then cut cleanly between the two sections. Small divisions with no roots often stall for months. There are no runners.

Quick reference

• Light — Low to moderate (higher for red colour in meeboldii)
• CO2 — Optional; improves colour and leaf size
• Water — 72–82°F, pH 6.0–7.5, tolerant of moderate hardness
• Substrate — Roots in nutrient substrate, rhizome kept above it
• Placement — Midground; foreground in large tanks; ovata for paludariums
• Growth rate — Slow
• Propagation — Rhizome division
• Difficulty — Beginner to intermediate

Lagenandra we stock

• Lagenandra meeboldii 'Red' — also as Vitro Culture
• Lagenandra meeboldii 'Green' — also as Vitro Culture
• Lagenandra keralensis — also as Vitro Culture
• Lagenandra ovata (Malayan Sword) — also as Vitro Culture

Keep reading

• The Cryptocoryne Care Guide — the closest relative, and the plant Lagenandra is usually compared with
• How to Attach Epiphyte Plants to Driftwood and Rock — the technique works for Lagenandra rhizomes too