Cultivar of Echinodorus

Kleiner Bar sword

Echinodorus 'Kleiner Bär'

One of 21 cultivars of Echinodorus · See all cultivars →

Also known as Echinodorus 'Kleiner Bar', Little Bear sword, Kleiner Baer sword, Echinodorus 'Small Bear'

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Cultivars · Echinodorus

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Care at a glance

Light: Medium light
CO2: CO₂ beneficial
Temperature: 72–82°F; 22–28°C
Max height: 17.7 in; 45 cm

Growth rate: Medium
Placement: Background
Type: Rosette
pH: 6.0–7.5
Hardness: 3–15 dGH
Spread: 11.8 in (30 cm)
Nutrient uptake: Root + water column
Growth region: Submersed or emersed
Difficulty: Easy
Family: Alismataceae
Origin: Cultivar (hybrid of Echinodorus barthii and Echinodorus uruguayensis)

Overview

A large background sword often used as a single centrepiece. It does fine under moderate light without CO2, but strong light, a rich substrate and CO2 push vigorous growth and the darkest red colour, sometimes a new leaf every week. Plant it with room to spread and feed heavily at the roots; remove any occasional adventitious plantlets or old leaves at the base.

In the wild

A cultivated hybrid without a wild population. Its parent species are South American swords from Uruguay and the wider Amazon basin that grow in marshes, ditches and slow rivers, rooting in soft mud and often growing emersed in the dry season. Kleiner Bär inherits that large substrate-rooted rosette form.

Good to know

A hybrid between Echinodorus barthii and Echinodorus uruguayensis, in the family Alismataceae. The name is German for 'Little Bear'. Leaf colour is strongly light-dependent, shifting from olive-green in dim tanks to deep burgundy or maroon under bright light and good nutrition.

Did you know

Like several red swords, Kleiner Bär will sometimes throw adventitious plantlets directly from an old leaf or an emersed flower stalk, which can be pinned down and rooted to make new plants.