2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Water banana (lat. Nymphoides aquatica) - a plant from the Shift family, owing its unusual name to one interesting feature: near its roots, you can see formations resembling banana bunches.
Description
The water banana is a plant that can reach a height of twenty-five to thirty-five centimeters and is endowed with plump cord-like adventitious white roots that do not penetrate too deep into the ground. And quite impressive banana-like processes up to two centimeters long and up to 0.6 cm wide extend from these roots. All of them are painted in rich dark green tones.
Surprisingly tender young leaves of a water banana grow exclusively under water and are characterized by a rather pale color. All of them sit on strongly shortened stems, equipped with rosettes with strong petiole leaves.
As this very unusual plant grows, the banana-shaped shoots also begin to slowly increase in size, gradually changing their color. And a little later, floating leaves begin to form at the water banana.
The fleshy leaf blades of this aquatic beauty are characterized by a rounded shape and reach a diameter of ten centimeters. And in the places where they are attached to the cuttings, you can see quite deep cuts. The tops of all the leaves are painted in pleasant olive green tones, and their undersides, with clearly visible veins, boast colorful pale purple hues.
By the way, light green cuttings of this plant break very easily. All of them are dotted with an impressive number of rather bizarre air chambers and are covered with shells of tiny brownish hairs.
Where grows
Most often, the aquatic banana can be found in slow-flowing or stagnant North American bodies of water. It is especially common on the Atlantic coast.
Usage
Water banana looks extremely impressive in aquariums, giving them a special flavor. It looks especially great in the foreground.
Growing and caring
The most important indicator for the full development of a water banana is the temperature regime. By the way, in winter and in summer it is not the same: in winter the plant will feel comfortable at temperatures from fifteen to eighteen degrees, and in summer - at temperatures from twenty-five to twenty-seven degrees.
As for the aquatic environment, then ideally it should have an acidic reaction. And the size of a water banana depends to a large extent on the water level.
In order to slow down the formation of floating leaves, a soil that is relatively poor in various nutrients should be selected. Gravel is especially good for use as soil, into which the water banana is buried about a quarter.
The lighting for the water banana should be intense enough to promote the rapid growth of a beautiful plant. It's okay if direct sunlight also gets into the aquarium. In general, a water banana cannot boast of rapid growth - it usually releases no more than one or two leaves per month.
Reproduction of this plant occurs due to a huge number of floating processes. Invariably stretching to the water surface, such processes resemble the leaves of water lilies. They should be separated only when their diameter reaches the order of four centimeters - then they will quickly take root. Quite good, the water banana reproduces with the help of side shoots. And if a single leaf of a given plant is cut off and released into free swimming, after a while the formation of a daughter plant will begin at its tip, however, there will be no banana-like formations on it.
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The aquatic banana, also called the banana plant, is found primarily in slow-flowing or stagnant water bodies in North America. It can be seen especially often on the Atlantic coast. This plant acquired its unusual name due to one very interesting feature - near its roots you can see formations resembling banana bunches. Water banana looks great in aquariums, giving them a special flavor - it looks especially impressive when in the foreground
