Nymphoides hydrophylla (Taiwan Lily) Care Guide
Nymphoides hydrophylla is an Asian floating-heart with rounded leaves on long petioles, valued in the aquarium trade as the 'Taiwan' form.
Overview
Nymphoides hydrophylla is an aquatic plant of the family Menyanthaceae, native to Taiwan. It is widely grown in the aquarium and water-garden trade, most often as the 'Taiwan' form, which is prized for crinkled leaves and a compact habit. The plant forms rounded leaves on long petioles and produces small white flowers with fringed petal margins.
Taxonomy
- Family: Menyanthaceae
- Genus: Nymphoides
- Scientific name: Nymphoides hydrophylla
- Common names: Crested Floating Heart, Taiwan Lily
Habitat
The species is native to Taiwan, where commercial production is centred in the Meinong District of Kaohsiung; the young stem is also used as a vegetable there. It is sold for ornamental water gardens worldwide and, where it escapes cultivation, can become a nuisance weed, as recorded in Florida and South Carolina, helped by its tolerance of freezing.
Appearance
It develops cordate (heart-shaped) floating or submerged leaves on long stalks and dainty white flowers with fringed margins. Leaf size responds strongly to light: under low light, leaves can reach 6 cm or more across, while under bright light they stay smaller, around 3–4 cm, with shorter petioles and a more compact appearance.
Tank requirements
- Water type: freshwater
- Temperature: 22–28 °C (72–82 °F)
- pH: 6.0–7.5
- GH: 3–14 °dGH
- Lighting: medium (tolerant of a range of intensities)
- CO2: not required, but improves compact growth
- Substrate: nutrient-rich
- Placement: background; produces floating leaves if untrimmed
Care is straightforward. The plant grows best in a nutrient-rich substrate with adequate light. If left untrimmed it sends leaves to the surface; trimming petioles near the base keeps it lower. Old yellowing leaves should be snipped at the petiole to avoid decay and algae.
Propagation
Nymphoides hydrophylla reproduces vegetatively by adventitious daughter plants that form on the leaf stalk just below the leaf blade. For propagation, a leaf with its stalk is cut off and allowed to float until the young plantlet roots. Sexually, the plant is gynodioecious and the fruit is a capsule bearing many flattened seeds.