Water Orchid

Spiranthes odorata

A genuine orchid that grows in swamps and shallow water of the American south — and flowers there. Its flowers spiral around an upright stalk, which is where the name of the genus comes from.

Light: medium–high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 15 – 28 °C (59 – 82 °F)

Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: slow
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 6 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 18 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground
Propagation: plantlets on roots +2 plantlets on roots, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

A rosette of narrow leaves; above water the plant sends up a tall stalk with small flowers arranged in a spiral. In nature it ranges from 10 cm to over a metre and flowers from autumn into winter, even standing in shallow water.

Keeping

It grows in seasonally flooded ground, so it is at home in a paludarium or an open tank with the crown near the surface as much as fully submerged. Medium to strong light and a nutritious substrate suit it; cool water is no problem.

Placement

The middle of the tank, or the bank of a paludarium, where it can flower.

Propagation

By young plants that form on the spreading roots, so a single plant becomes a colony.

Water conditions match

The water suits 812 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Other varieties: Spiranthes odorata in Vitro XL, Spiranthes odorata Topf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Neottia odorata Nuttall, Spiranthes cernua var. odorata (Nutt.) Correll, Gyrostachys odorata, Ibidium odoratum, Neottia odorata, Spiranthes cernua odorata, Triorchis odoratus, Triorchos odoratus, Triorchos trilobus
Spiranthes odorata: (Nutt.) Lindl.
Family: Orchidaceae

Water Orchid

Tank conditions

Care and keeping