Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia

Leaves long, narrow, ranging from smooth to wavy, green to red-brown; underwater leaves are 20–50 cm long and 5–12 mm wide. The leaves are limp both above and below water — hence the name 'limp-leaved' (flaccidifolia). The thin rhizomes creep out of the substrate over time. Forms of various colour and waviness exist, growing side by side in the wild. It differs from var. balansae: that one has wider leaves, 15–40 mm, with a hammered texture, while flaccidifolia has a smooth or wavy edge, without hammering.

Easy, growth moderate, light from dim to strong, CO₂ 5–40 mg/l, temperature 20–26 °C. In the wild it grows mostly underwater in streams and rivers in dense stands, drying out partly when the water level drops; the inflorescence, with a long, spirally twisted blade, rises above the water as in the other varieties.

Background and midground, a centrepiece.

Often in the trade, but usually not under its own name — instead as 'Cryptocoryne retrospiralis'; the true C. retrospiralis from India is almost absent from cultivation.