Lobelia cardinalis Wavy
Lobelia cardinalis 'Wavy'
Also known as Lobelia Wavy, Cardinal flower Wavy
Care at a glance
- Light
- Medium light
- CO2
- CO₂ beneficial
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Placement
- Midground
- Type
- Stem
- Temperature
- 64–79°F (18–26°C)
- pH
- 6.0–7.5
- Hardness
- 4–15 dGH
- Max height
- 7.9 in (20 cm)
- Spread
- 3.9 in (10 cm)
- Nutrient uptake
- Root + water column
- Growth region
- Submersed or emersed
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Origin
- Cultivated selection (parent species native to North and Central America)
- Family
- Campanulaceae
Overview
Use it the way you would standard Lobelia: a tidy midground bush of pale green, spoon-shaped leaves that reads calm next to fine-leaved stems. Plant a loose group in the substrate and give it a free, well lit spot under medium light; CO2 is not required but tightens the growth. It is slow for a stem plant, which keeps maintenance light: top the main shoot occasionally to force side shoots and the group thickens on its own. Failure modes are few, mostly shading, since a leggy neighbour flopping over it will cost the lower leaves.
In the wild
Wavy is a nursery selection and does not occur in the wild. Its parent, the cardinal flower, grows on wet stream banks and marsh edges from eastern North America down into Central America, standing emersed for most of the year and flowering above the water. The Wavy form exists only in cultivation and is farm-grown emersed before being converted in the aquarium.
Good to know
A selection of Lobelia cardinalis in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae, an unusual family for an aquarium plant. The genus honours the botanist Matthias de l'Obel, and the cultivar name describes the leaf margins, which pucker and wave where the standard plant's are flat. Leaf size matches the ordinary form, but the submersed habit is noticeably bushier and more compact.
Did you know
The parent species is the cardinal flower of North American stream banks, famous for scarlet blooms pollinated by hummingbirds. Submersed in an aquarium it never flowers, so the Wavy form trades that show for ruffled foliage you can actually keep underwater.
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