Helanthium Quadricostatus (Echinodorus) — Tissue Culture

Helanthium Quadricostatus, formerly classified as Echinodorus Quadricostatus and commonly called Chain Sword, is a light-green carpeting Amazon Sword relative that's easy to care for and grows quickly. Planted in groups, it gives a hedge-like, bushy foreground effect and spreads rapidly via runners for quick coverage.

Care & Planting: Rinse tissue culture gel off before planting. Separate into small portions and plant each about an inch apart, halfway into the substrate. After several weeks the plant sends out runners to fill in.

A note on "melting": Like most Amazon Swords and Cryptocoryne species, this plant is farm-grown emersed (above water). When you first submerge it, don't be alarmed if the original leaves die back over the first few weeks — this is called melting, and it's a normal part of the transition, not a sign the plant is failing. Emersed leaves are built for air and only have stomata on their underside; once submerged, the plant sheds them in favor of new underwater leaves with stomata on both sides, better suited to absorbing CO2 from the water. New submersed growth typically appears within a few weeks.