Bleherae

Buying this sword plant for a starter tank is the classic mistake. Flowgrow's own description warns that grown specimens can exceed 60 cm in height and about as much in width, which rules out anything but a large aquarium, and it points to Echinodorus grisebachii 'Parviflorus', which stays near 30 cm, as the plant to buy for a medium tank instead. Give it 22 to 26 °C, medium light and a background position with room behind it. Growth is fast and the plant is rated easy, so most of the work is deciding whether you have the space.

The naming history is worth knowing, because shops still get it wrong. Flowgrow files it as a form of Echinodorus grisebachii, with Echinodorus bleherae Rataj and Echinodorus bleheri Rataj as synonyms, Echinodorus rangeri as a trade name, and Echinodorus paniculatus as a name misapplied to it for years. The true E. paniculatus is a different plant and is seldom kept.

Where it came from is not settled either. Flowgrow says the origin is unclear and may be Amazonia, so this entry leaves the range blank rather than guessing. The page also publishes no pH, no hardness and no CO2 figures at all, which makes the pH 6.5 to 7.5 shown here an editorial estimate rather than a sourced range. Propagate it from the plantlets that appear on the flower stalk. The usual form in the hobby is triploid, so its flowers set no seed.