OK the label is for buffalo grass! Stenotaphrum secundatum is buffalo grass - yes the lawn grass! The floating leaves are those of Aponogeton distachyos the waterblommetjie. As for the val - this is Valisneria "aethiopica" from Okavango - Raymond this is the val that I must still give you - be warned though if the light intensity is not very high and the substrate is too rich then it grows taller and looses the red colouration. Cheers Robin
yes.. the label is wrong, they must have made an error, and the aponogeton I knew what it was, my mother in law said that some people make food with it, but this sort of valis is something I have not seen before. The red colour is so deep and intense and the carpet it forms so tight. The leaves were no more than 10cm. I will see if I can get it in the UK, as it would be a lovely plant to use.
It's a traditional Capetonian dish, called Waterblommetjie Bredie. Somewhat of an acquired taste, though.
And once acquired always desired (jeez that sounds cheesy!) No really it is delicious although I no longer grow my own for culinary use - trying to remove all those snail eggs is a rather disgusting chore. No thanks! The canned ones are fantastic! I have loads of this plant! No need to look for it in the UK! How many bucket loads do you want? My only complaint with this beastie is that it needs to be starved and fried under intende light to recreate that red colour. Otherwise it is a 15cm tall very bright luscious green val! Cheers Robin
Thanks Robin for the offer.. To get plants into the UK thru post is a pain, I got some from the States and most got here mushy. I will look for them in the UK, and if no luck I will paypal you some funds to cover at least the shipping..
I suspect that this val is not so different from others - i think V. aetiopica has been found to be synonomous with the North African and Mediterranean species. I think any val would display this red colouration in shallow ater and bright light. I have grown a very large species (V. americana I think) in my pond in the shallows in a very rich medium and although it grew its usual large self it was bright red! I think most Valisneria species are quite deep water in habitants - I collected my V. americana in Little Princess vlei! It was growing in about 1.5m deep water and the foliage was about 80cm long at the time! A colleague that collected material of the same val that is in the Kirstenbosch pond in Okavango (K-bosch's material is also from okavango) has cubic meters of it in his pond and only where the water is less than 30cm deep is it the foliage that lovely deep red. In deeper water it is about 15cm tall and vivid green - still a beautiful plant but not bright red! I suspect that Sagittaria graminifolia var platyphylla also turns red under intense light - much the same as Echinodorus tenellus does. Cheers Robin
hahaha!!! No, my friend. You don't make waterblommetjie bredie from this! You actually use WATERBLOMMETJIES!! hahaha (Google is your friend - go look) Scientific name is Aponogeton distachyos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aponogeton_distachyos Looks VASTLY different to val! 8)
Rich, my friend... If you actually thoroughly read the thread, you may have picked up on the fact that we were in actual fact discussing this very Aponogeton used in waterblommetjie bredie. So I nominate above as post fail of the day.
