Giant Vallisneria flowering?

[byte]

I recently moved a Giant Vallisneria from my 55 gallon to my 90 as it was getting to large for the 55. Tonight while working in the tank, I noticed these strange thin, round corkscrew type vines coming from the plant. There are 3 of them, but what are they? I thought Vallisneria usually spreads by the roots so I never expected it to flower

[Vallisneria]

Wow, thats cool. I also keep Giant vals but had no idea they flowered.

Congrats!

[byte]

Propagation:

Occurs via two mechanisms, sexual by flowering and asexually through vegetative 'runners'.

Vallisnerias are dioecious, with separate male and female flowering plants. These flowers appear on special stems that can grow as much as 2 cm. (1/2 inch) per hour. The male flower spathe is short and releases male flowers near the base of the plant that rise to the surface pollinating the long-stalked female flowers. On fertilizing these coil and ripen underwater

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWe...vallisneria.htm

Here is a close up of the flower which is about 5mm across, but the stalk must be about 30 inches long!

Edited October 27, 2008 by byte

[jvision]

Pretty much every plant we keep flowers only ferns and mosses don't. Most of the plants we keep only flower with emergent growth, tho.

[werner]

Very cool. That's one I've never seen before. Now if you could only find a male plant...

[byte]

Very cool. That's one I've never seen before. Now if you could only find a male plant...

There is lots of other vals (10 or more) in the tank, but I have not noticed any of them flowering. This was the only plant I moved if that had anything to do with the flowering. The tanks sit side by side and share the same timer, so it is not a change in my lighting times. The only big difference in the two tanks is the 90 gallon doesn't have CO2 injected (yet!)...

[African_Fever]

Very cool to see that on a giant val. I've had corkscrew vals flower numerous times in the past, but the 15+ years I've been keeping giant vals, I've never seen them flower. I wonder if I somehow have all males then?

[firestorm]

That's pretty cool. I never knew those type of plants flowered. But now we do

[byte]

I have found out that moving the plant from my 55g to my 90g had nothing to do with it flowering. Over the last few days I have been watching a new set of flowers come off another val in my 55 gallon. I think the reason they flowered was their light got cut in half (from 260 watts to 130 watts) for the last month or so due to a failed ballast.

[werner]

I think the reason they flowered was their light got cut in half (from 260 watts to 130 watts) for the last month or so due to a failed ballast.

Neato. I wonder if the lower light level is a seasonal cue to flower, or just "My habitat is not as favorable as it once was, so I must reproduce before I die!!!"