Broad Chain Sword Bare-root

Broad Chain Sword Bare-root

Scientific name: Echinodorus quadricostatus
Trade name: Broad-leaf Chain Sword
Difficulty: Moderate

Broad Chain Sword is a fantastic, spreading Echinodorus. It has narrow leaves on many plants, which will trail through an aquarium for very natural effect.

Echinodorus Species

The Echinodorus family of plants are commonly called "Sword Plants." There are a diverse range of Echinodorus species and cultivars with many different leaf shapes and leaf colouration.

In the wild, in South America, Sword plants live in marshes and bogs that flood in the wet season. They have part of their life cycle during the drier weather where they grow out of water and reproduce. This natural emerse stage of their life is how most Echinodorus are grown commercially. The emerse plants are stronger and when the floods come to them in the wild or they are submersed in an aquarium, they happily adjust to their submerse form. With time, they will grow new underwater leaves, that are often softer and more colourful and the leaves may have a slightly different shape. 

Sword plants are very versatile and can be grown in most aquariums, with most fish except large cichlids. These highly sought after plants come in a variety of sizes and leaf shapes with colours from vibrant, light, frog green through deep, dark green then across to reds or coppers and even a variegated "Marble Queen."