My article “These mysterious leaves…” was published in the German magazine “Aqua Planta” №4/2009. In this article I touched upon some observations of Anubias leaves’ vernation. There are two possible directions of the convolute vernation: with right or left Archimedean spiral. More than that every individual bush has the same direction from leaf to leaf. The inflorescence’s spatha is rolled up similar to the leaflet. And it is important to mention that the offsets which have been received by the division of the rhizome have the same direction of the vernation, as the maternal plant has. But not so long ago it becomes known that there are several exceptions to this rule. So, Vladimir Surkov from Samara found out that on his bush of Anubias barteri “Coffeifolia” the main and side growing points formed the leaves with different vernation. Also Sergey Gerasimov from Kiev marks those hybrid seedlings from the same cross breeding have different vernation
A. barteri var. nana 'Golden' has convolute vernation along left Archimedean spiral (if we look from the end of the leaf):
Different directions of the leaf formation by vegetative relatives of Anubias barteri ‘Coffeifolia’:
Hybrid seeds from one and the same parents have different direction of vernation:
Not long ago one of the Anubias of the Ukrainian fancier Sergey Gerasimov - Anubias sp. Frazeri began to blossom. You can see his photos of the inflorescence in this post of our “Bulletin”.
It’s interesting to mention, that the access to the pistils of this Anubias was open only for a day. On the second day after the flowering the spatha covered the whole female part of the inflorescence. In most cases the synandria consist of 5 stamens. The thecae are situated on the edge of the synandrium.
I’m sure that you heard about cactuses’ thorns or roses’ prickles, so it can’t surprise you, but such emergences among aquarian plants are very seldom. First of all we should define such words as “thorns” and “prickles”. Thorns are hard acuminate emergences of plants; they appear as the result of the stem, leaf, root or their parts’ metamorphosis. Prickles are strong, acerous emergences of the plants’ epidermis. Not long ago we noticed that some species of Anubias have small (up to 2 mm in length) mucronated emergences on the petioles. Taking into consideration their size and location we can say that in our case we deal with prickles.
For the first time we found such prickles accidentally, when we “weeded out” greenhouse with the large species among which was also Anubias heterophylla. The petioles of this Anubias were covered with small prickles; they were so edgy that you could easily scratch your hands. Then we check all adult bushes of more than 30 Anubias’ species and their varieties and found out that such emergences have Anubias afzelii, A. gilletii, A. heterophylla ‘Spathulata’, A. ‘Frazeri’ и A. barteri var.caladiifolia ‘Variegated’. We should mention once more, that only adult bushes have such prickles on the petioles (2-3 years old bushes, which were grown up in greenhouse conditions) and such unusual emergences are situated along the full length of the petioles, but there are more of them in the lower part. Young plants of the noted species have absolutely smooth petioles.
Prickles of A. heterophylla 'Spathulata':
Practically there is no information about Anubias’ prickles in the literature. Christel Kasselmann noted in her book “Aquarium Plants” that Anubias gilletii, A.hastifolia and A. pynaertii had such emergencies. Also Josef Bogner with other co-authors wrote about Anubias’ prickles in the article concerning the family Araceae from the forth volume of the encyclopedia “The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants” (2006), but without any concretization of species. And there is no information concerning the role of these prickles.
But plants’ thorns and prickles have a biological meaning; first of all it’s a defense from animals and decrease of transpiration (plants of arid region). The Anubias prickles aren’t connected with the tendency to decrease evaporating surface, perhaps it’s only the defense from herbivores. We haven’t any information whether this plant is a nutritive base for the mammals at the places of their natural growth, but many times we observed, that these Araceae become the dainty dish for usual greenflies. Indirectly it proves that the tissues of these plants don’t contain any high-toxic substances and as opposed to Aglaonema and Dieffenbachia, which belong to the same family, they can be eatable. For reasons given we make a conclusion that Anubias’ prickles can be a sign of the plants’ zoophobia.
The prickles which we observe are declinate a bit and practically similar with roses thorns. In connection with this we can single out one more function of these emergencies – clutch at support and stand in grass, it’s very important in condition of the intense competition for sunlight in thick tropical forest. This reason for the presence of the prickles is more probable.
Petioles of A. afzelii:
Anubias are one of the mysterious plants in aquarium and we are sure, that in the future they will spring many surprises on their owners.
The authors of this note: Dmitry Loginov and Sergey Gerasimov.
The note is based on the next article: D. Loginov, S. Gerasimov “Anubias prickles”, Russian Journal “Aquarium”, 2009, № 3.
Translated from Russian by Julia Niklyaeva and Alexander Grigorov
Photos: Vladislav Elbakyan, Dmitry Loginov and Sergey Gerasimov.
Thanks to the hydrobotanic and one of the famous popularizer of the aquarian plants M.D. Mahlin the Anubias-plants appeared in USSR in 1960. They were Anubias afzelii, A. congensis and A. nana. In the next 30 years more than 20 varieties of these plants crossed a border of the country. The Anubias appeared on the territory of the USSR accidentally, only 1-2 bushes of each species. Then these plants were propagated vegetatively and spread among fanciers and collectors. Some bushes, especially rare species had an astronomical price. After collapse of the USSR, Asian and European farms began to supply Russian market with Anubias. As the result many old species and varieties were supplanted by new breeds and commercial names. Many species were lost and now it is very difficult to find them in free sale. But we can see some of them in different corners of our huge country. First of all, in Moscow and Saint Petersburg botanical gardens, the workers of which could save the collection of the Anubias in the difficult years of the country, when the financing was reduced. More than that there are some examples of private fanciers’ collections, which are still exist. In this note we are going to tell you about one of these collections.
Sergey Bodyagin began to take a great interest in Anubias in 1985. In spite of the fact that he was living in a small town (Ohansk, region Perm and the population is 10000), he could collect practically all species of the Anubias by that time. This collection is still the same now. Plants with “soviet” names A.spec.elliptica, A.spec.rotundifolia, A.spec.erubescens, A.spec.spathulata are successfully cultivated on the Kama’s banks. More than that Sergey Bodyagin very often uses the seed propagation of his Anubias. Particularly with the help of this method it became possible to receive very quickly a big population of each species and by means of interspecific hybridization to create new hybrid plants, which are differ from their parents by lamina form.
There are some examples of these hybrids:
A. barteri var. barteri x A. barteri var. caladiifolia A. barteri var. nana x A. barteri var. caladiifolia A. barteri var. caladiifolia x A. barteri var. nana A. barteri var. nana x A. barteri var. barteri A. barteri var. caladiifolia x A. barteri var. barteri A. barteri var. nana x A. gilletii A. gigantea x A. barteri var. caladifolia A. barteri var. caladiifolia x A. gigantea A. barteri var. caladiifolia x A. аfzelii A. аfzelii x A. barteri var. caladiifolia A. barteri var. nana x A. аfzelii A. аfzelii x A. barteri var. caladiifolia A. barteri var. nana x A. lanceolata A. hastifolia x A. barteri var. nana A. barteri var. nana x A. gigantea
Some of the hybrid inherited from their parents not only decorative but also some useful biological features. For example, hybrid on the basis of A. barteri var. nana can be cultivated in aquarium. Besides micton-plants have usually a more active growth and viability.
Further you can see some photos of Sergey Bodyagin’s Anubias.
A.spec.undulatus var.angustifolia:
Inflorescence of A. barteri var. caladiifolia:
Inflorescence and fruit of A.barteri var.nana: Stems of A. gilletii: Fruit of A. gigantea: Young seedlings of A. gigantea: Hybrid of A. gracilis х A. barteri var. caladiifolia: These and many other photos you can see on the website: www.anubias.narod.ru
It’s well known that Anubias are riverside plants. But only some species can grow up well in aquarium; for example A. afzelii, A. barteri and some specimen of A. heterophylla. Though even these species grow up better in an emergent condition: they do it quickly, the leaves become larger, and more than that such plants blossom more often and so on. In the botanic garden’s greenhouses Anubias are grown up without water, meanwhile a damp peat or soil can be used as a ground. Such method also gives good results, the Anubias’ leaves grow very quickly. So as there is not so much water the leaves become firmer and harder than in aquarium. But this method is not suitable for small home greenhouses, because it’s difficult to fit out good ventilation in such a small volume and as the result the substratum can rot. That’s why it’s more suitable to keep Anubias in the emergent conditions, in such way it’s possible to avoid some undesirable anaerobic processes due to the water circulation and water changes. Besides there is an opportunity to proportion mineral fertilizers and distribute them properly. So the fancier of the aquatic fauna will like such method too, because in this way he can keep both, Anubias and aquatic animals, together.
An aquarium with a law water level can be used as a greenhouse. But it’s very difficult to maintain such aquariums. Theoretically we need some type of terrarium with side doors and leak proof bottom. In contrast to the “true” terrarium, there is no need in vent holes in such greenhouses for Anubias, as it would be very problematically to reach necessary air humidity (more than 90%).
It’s better to use luminous tube lamps with a warm white light for lighting and these lamps should be fixed on the outside of the greenhouse in order to avoid leaf scorch. The water level 5-15 cm. is enough for the growth of the most Anubias’ species. The pump is to place in water for the circulation. It’s better to keep Anubias in small plastic flower pots. The usage of the pots simplifies the attendance of the plants and their replantation etc. I often use the packing from foodstuff, for example plastic yoghurt cups. It’s necessary to make small holes in the side of the cup for water cycle. The upper edge of the cup should be under the water and only for a little it can emerge upon the surface. Common pebbles or small clay pellets can be used as a substratum. Every fancier has his own opinion concerning the question which additives (clay, ash, peat etc.) should be added to the soil. I’ve checked several variants of such mixtures and I didn’t notice any striking differences from the pure pebbles. We should follow only one rule- add the additive no more as 1/3 from total amount of the substratum, otherwise there would be asescence (rotting) of the soil or further mortality of the plant. Very often the usage of the peat, in order to soften the water and decrease its’ hardness, is unreasonably: due to the regular water changes the effect is thus null. Mineral fertilizers should be added in water for Anubias’ full nutrition. It can be done in different ways. For example you can use some fertilizers for house plants. But sometimes they aren’t well balanced, so in this way they don’t supply the needs of Anubias. And very often there is an oversupply with one element and that can lead to the plant’s disease. This problem can be solved by regular water changes. The usage of alive hydrobionts is another way to supply Anubias with necessary nutrition. It can be as snails, so as different fishes. They will consume food and excrete the waste products, which are necessary for Anubias. More than that snails are very important for aquariums, they eat obsolescent leaves or the other part of the plants. Though this method has also some disadvantages. For example, if there are any aquatic organisms, so it’s impossible to use chemical substances in order to fight with pests and diseases.
The temperature in greenhouse should be 22-26ºС. The direct sun should be avoided. Of course sometimes this natural lightening is useful for Anubias’ vital functions, but often it can lead to the air’s overheating, especially in summer. Anubias don’t like overheating (above 30 ºС) and vice versa overcooling (below 20 ºС).
That’s all. Practically there are no difficulties in growing such plants at home greenhouse. It’s not as complicated as the violet’s cultivation (Saintpaulia ionantha) on the window sill.
This bulletin presents highlights of the Russian Anubias Forum, which exists since 2008. This forum is devoted to the growing of Anubias-plants, their systematization, etc. The Russian version of the forum is available at the following Web site.
Die deutschsprachige Version des Bulletins befindet sichhier.
Attention! We address to Anubia-fanciers from all over the world! Everyone who is interested can join our team and send us his own notice about Anubias! If you have a question or an interesting observation concerning these plants, write us (korall-magazine at mail.ru OR anubias at tropica.ru)! We hope other aquarians will read it with great interest! Let's do it together!
