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Small/dwarf water lily from South America

Pfew, from south america? Hard to say i personaly only know the Victoria Genus from south america which actualy is the largest of all lily sp... All small ones i know are except 1 african sp. all cultivars. If their is a regular sized water lily from that erau their might still be an option, depending on wat you want.. Do you want flowers ASAP? Or just some submersed growth and or floaters.

Because if you take a mature tuber and cut off a very tiny runner and plant this in an aquarium you will have a mini version of this lily for years.. I did this a year ago with a cultivr called Burgundy Princess which is alledgedly much to big for aqaurium. They are indeed if mature, but if you start one from a piece of tuber not larger then 5mm to 10mm square, it will take many years before it gets to big.. But it will also take some time before it has energy enough to make flowers, it might never flower because of the flow which is mainly to high in an aqaurium. :)
 
Nelson said:
It says European.
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Yes you are correct, i was to fast with this one, sorry... :oops: got carried away with the books title. :rolleyes: It is indeed a common european lily. And the Pygmeae Alba is rather a cosmopolitan, Asia, Europe and North America.. Hence the lily is cultivated for so many centuries, half the world doesn't realy know where it realy originated, they grow everywhere. :shy:
 
Nymphaea glandulifera (red and green) :woot: But then you have to stay up late to see it flower. (Night flower)
 
Nelson said:
You're a star Marcel :).
Just got to find one now.
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You got me very intrested in that little lily.. :rolleyes: And did some hunting... Found someone growing it.. He said he probably will have a few cuttings to spare again with in 2 or 3 weeks. I need to contact him again by then... I'll keep you posted how it goes and if so, how and what etc.... If you haven't found by then yourself we'll work something out.. ;)
:thumbup:
 
@Nelson Look what i found in the mail today.. :woot: :snaphappy: This according the sender Nymphaea glandulifera.

Not as small as i expected, seems in Nymphaea standards small doesn't necessary mean pygmaea size
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It has some potential to grow rather large as you can see, what you see here is at least 70cm, but comes out of a large discus tank. I do not have the aquarium size to show it submersed.. Need to house it somewhere else for the time being..

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Ive got your address, i'll make sure you get some when the temps rise, if you still want it. :) (Let me know)..

Maybe i get it to flower for definitive ID confirmation.. The flower is already almost there.. :thumbup:
 

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After doing some more research about N. Glandulifera it seems it absolutely needs tropical temperatures to grow.. Under 23 it barely doesn't and bellow 20 it might just melt away. I have no room for the enormous size it was in as i received it.. So i didn't want to take any changes and had to make some choices.. Cleared out a small 40x25x25cm tank with about all it's plants, trimmed the lily down removed all it's floating leaves but 1 the shortest, to make it fit and give it some room. A also did split it in 2 seperate plants. It seems a lily sp. highly addaptable to the room it's given, with a depth of least 25 cm or more. Found reports of people growing it small and others growing it rather big. So for now it should be fine and it's indeed after a week already showing new growth.. :thumbup:

Also it gets some extra light with a small 40 watt halogene lamp to boost the flower into growth..

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That slowly unfolding leaf still was completely closed 2 days ago.. So it definitely is addapting, establishing and growing now the required temps are met.
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So far very promesing.. Doesn't seem to be such a difficult plant at all as long the temps are met.. Wonder why it is such a rare plant to find. :)
 
Yes indeed, it has been growen in a very large discus tank with plenty of room and 60cm height to reach, so it had a long time to grow mass and leafsurface like that... I guess in more shallow water the leaf will reach surface much sooner and in smaller size. I left this one big leaf on to give the plant some acces to arial co2.. That one still folded submersed leaf you see in the background is from the root piece i did cut off.. It's waiting now for new growth and see what it does. There for i encreased temperatur and give it 40 watt extra light, so it can grow faster with more foliage.. I suspect it can be kept rather small like that.. We'll see.. :thumbup: I guess it's name green dwarf lily is rather circumstancial..
 
Those leaves is almost the same size as normal lily pads,planted in akadama? I just order just random seeds, hopefully it germinate, finger cross
 
limz_777 said:
Those leaves is almost the same size as normal lily pads,planted in akadama? I just order just random seeds, hopefully it germinate, finger cross
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Yup, it's akadama, grew lilies in it before it does good.. :) But this is a lily kind which doesn't grow from a tuber, it has just fat roots. So i have no idea what to expect.. Never grew this type of lily before.. Lilies growing a tuber it kinda depends on the tuber size how large it grows.. You can for example cut of a piece of tuber as large as a bean, it only needs 1 little green leaf.. And it will grow on, first some roots than a few more leaves and very slowly grows a bigger tuber. Depenging on the soil and light it can stay very small the first few years making floaters not bigger than a € coin.. I'm growing a cultivar like that now not listed as aquarium suitable. It's a year old now.
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So that not aquarium suitable is obviously partialy untrue for many lilies it only would be to big in mature form, from a rather fat tuber. :) In relatively inert substrate lilies stay rather small anyway.. They love very rich muddy loamy soils to grow bigger. I believe you are good to go with any small to medium sized lily in an aquarium (of any size even nano) if you do it the corect way.

Never grew one from seed only from runners, so i guess from seed it'll take some years too before it grows some substance.. They also need some maturity before they can flower depending on species at least 2 years under perfect conditions..

Good luck.. Please keep us updated.. :)
 
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