[wetworks]

I have several pretty large Trident Java Ferns in several of my tanks. On all of the plants there are maybe ten to fifteen leaves on them, but only about 1/3 of the leaves have the distinctive 'trident' shape. Is there a reason why there are non-trident shaped shaped leaves on this variety? Is this normal for this type of plant? And last, are there varieties that have all trident-shaped leaves? Thanks!

 

[wetworks]

Anyone? Surely someone knows about these Java Ferns...

 

[wetworks]

Going twice?

 

[wetworks]

I am very interested in learning about these Java Ferns; can anyone here help me out? I am also trying to find out about other Java Fern variants such as 'Tropica'. Thanks!

 

[pwolfe]

All I can tell you is that I experience the same thing with my tridents. No idea why some are 3 pronged and others are not though.

 

[Jeffww]

It's an unstable trait. A few cultivars of plants exhibit this behavior. When rotala "butterfly" was first released its appearance would vary wildly.

 

[wetworks]

All I can tell you is that I experience the same thing with my tridents. No idea why some are 3 pronged and others are not though.

Thanks for your reply. At first I thought it was just the particular plants I had, but I recently purchased some from another source and they had similar leaves: some trident and some normal. I guess that they all are like that.

 

[wetworks]

It's an unstable trait. A few cultivars of plants exhibit this behavior. When rotala "butterfly" was first released its appearance would vary wildly.

This makes a lot of sense. A lot of people on the internet show photos of the cutivar "Tropica" and call it "Trident". The difference is that on the "Tropica" variety all of the leaves have that feathered shape and on the "Trident" variety it seems like only about 40% of the leaves have the trident shape. Is there a reason why some cultivars are true to form and others, like Trident, have such variation? Also, is Trident a version of Tropica? This would explain why people often get them confused...