Corkscrew val

Care at a glance

Overview

A hardy background plant for beginners that roots in any substrate and asks only for moderate light and no CO2. It draws most of its nutrients through the roots, so root tabs in lean gravel keep it going. Plant the crown so the white base sits just above the substrate, avoid burying the crown, and expect it to spread aggressively by runners and need regular thinning. It dislikes liquid carbon (glutaraldehyde), which can melt it.

In the wild

Vallisneria of this type comes from still and slow-flowing fresh waters of eastern and Southeast Asia, where the tape-like leaves grow in dense rooted stands and trail along the surface in flowing water. It is a rooted rosette plant that spreads by runners to form thick underwater meadows. The 'asiatica' form is distinguished by tightly twisted, corkscrewing leaves.

Good to know

The aquarium-trade name Vallisneria asiatica is now treated as a synonym of Vallisneria natans (Lour.) H.Hara under Kew's Plants of the World Online, and most cultivated corkscrew Vallisneria fall within the V. natans / V. spiralis complexes rather than being a distinct species. The genus sits in the tape-grass family Hydrocharitaceae. Vallisneria is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, and female flowers reach the surface on long coiled stalks for water pollination.

Did you know

Corkscrew val relies on the surface for sex: a female flower spirals up on a long stalk to sit at the waterline, a free male flower detaches and floats over, and after pollination the coiled stalk contracts to pull the developing seed back underwater.

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