Echinodorus cordifolius (Emersed)

Echinodorus cordifolius, the Heartleaf Amazon Sword or Radican Sword, is one of the largest and most impressive members of the Echinodorus genus. In its emersed form — the growth mode it naturally adopts in seasonal floodplain habitats — it produces enormous heart-shaped leaves on long arching petioles that can reach 60 cm in height, with a bold, tropical character that dominates any paludarium composition. The emersed leaves are noticeably larger and more robust than the submerged form.

Perhaps most remarkably, E. cordifolius produces long, arching inflorescence stems that cascade outward and downward from the central rosette, bearing both flowers and adventitious plantlets at each node. These plantlets are an efficient and prolific propagation mechanism — each stem may produce 8–15 plantlets that can be detached once they develop roots. This self-generating quality makes it an extremely rewarding plant for the riparian zone of large paludariums.