Vallisneria Rubra

Care at a glance

Overview

A background val for larger tanks. Push the roots into sand or soil with the crown left above the substrate, feed with root tabs, and otherwise leave it alone: like all vals it resents trimming, since cut leaves tend to rot back from the wound. It needs no CO2 and is happy in hard, alkaline water, but the red tones only develop under fairly strong light, so a dim tank gets a fast green val instead. Once settled it sends runners in every direction; pull unwanted daughter plants early or it will colonise the whole footprint.

In the wild

Rubra is a red-toned trade selection of Vallisneria australis. The parent species grows rooted in lakes, rivers and slow streams across eastern and southern Australia, from soft acid water to hard alkaline water, with ribbon leaves that reach the surface and trail in the current. Aquarium stock is farmed, and this form has circulated for decades under the name Vallisneria gigantea rubra.

Good to know

A tape grass in the family Hydrocharitaceae. The plant long sold as Vallisneria gigantea or V. americana var. gigantea is actually Vallisneria australis, and Rubra is the reddish selection of it; the epithet simply means red. Under bright light the leaves take on reddish to bronze tones, often with darker marbling, and revert to plain green when light is modest.

Did you know

Vallisneria pollination is a small boat race: female flowers rise to the surface on long spiral stalks, while male flowers break free underwater, float up and drift across the surface until they bump into one.

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