Crinum

Crinum calamistratum is a bulb plant from a narrow range in West Cameroon, near Kumba, and it grows from an onion type bulb. It belongs to the Amaryllidaceae, the family of ornamental onions, and unlike most aquarium plants it cannot be grown out of the water.

It is listed as a specimen plant as well as a background and midground one, and with growth this slow it is worth deciding where it goes before planting it.

Conditions are undemanding. The optimum is 23 to 26 °C inside a tolerance of 12 to 30, pH 5.5 to 8, carbonate hardness 2 to 12 dKH, and light medium to high, with carbon dioxide listed at 10 to 40 mg/l. The published nutrient range is nitrate 10 to 50 mg/l, phosphate 0.1 to 3 mg/l, potassium 5 to 30 mg/l and iron 0.01 to 0.5 mg/l, which is the ordinary range of a fertilised planted tank rather than anything special.

Propagation is by splitting off the daughter bulbs an established plant produces, which is patient work with a plant this slow, so most keepers buy rather than raise it. It is frequently available in shops, and the species was described by the botanists Bogner and Heine.