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Tricolor sword

Echinodorus 'Tricolor'

One of 21 cultivars of Echinodorus · See all cultivars →

Also known as Aquarius uruguayensis 'Tricolor', Echinodorus uruguayensis 'Tricolor', Echinodorus 'Tricolour', Echinodorus tricolor

FreshwaterRosettePlantletsRhizome division

Cultivars · Echinodorus

See all 21 →

Care at a glance

Light
Medium light
CO2
CO₂ beneficial
Growth rate
Fast
Placement
Midground
Type
Rosette
Temperature
68–82°F (20–28°C)
pH
6.0–7.5
Hardness
3–18 dGH
Max height
15.7 in (40 cm)
Spread
9.8 in (25 cm)
Nutrient uptake
Root + water column
Growth region
Submersed or emersed
Difficulty
Easy
Origin
Cultivated hybrid (no wild range); bred at the Rataj nursery, Czech Republic
Family
Alismataceae

Overview

A compact sword for the midground, or the background of smaller tanks. Plant it in nutrient-rich substrate with root tabs, keep the crown above the surface, and give it room, since even a compact sword builds a wide rosette. In medium light without CO2 it stays around 30 cm and grows steadily; strong light with CO2 and generous fertilising pushes it past 40 cm and speeds up leaf turnover. Cut tired or algae-coated outer leaves at the base. It sends up flower stalks that carry adventitious plantlets even underwater, which can be pinned down and cut free once rooted, and large crowns can be divided at the rhizome.

In the wild

Tricolor has no wild habitat: it is a nursery-bred sword hybrid, created at the Rataj aquatic plant nursery in the Czech Republic and introduced to the hobby in 2004. Its parents are South American Echinodorus species of marshes and river margins, plants that grow emersed on wet ground for part of the year and submersed when flooded. The hybrid keeps that amphibious habit, and nurseries farm it emersed, so pots usually arrive in the land form.

Good to know

A cultivar of Echinodorus, the sword plants, in the family Alismataceae. The name means three-coloured and refers to the foliage: leaves sprout light yellow-green to pink with brownish spots and darken to plain green as they mature, so a healthy rosette shows every stage at once. It is a Rataj cross of several South American species rather than a form of any one of them; shops often print it as a variety of Echinodorus uruguayensis, or Aquarius uruguayensis under the newer genus name, but the plant in the hobby is the 2004 hybrid. The submersed leaves are elongate with wavy, almost curly edges.

Did you know

The three colours all show at once: new leaves emerge pink to yellow-green with brown speckles and mature to dark green, so one crown reads like a mixed planting.

Appears in

Midground plants · Sword plants · Beginner plants · Fast growers

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