Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart, botanically Lagenandra thwaitesii, is a rare and botanically remarkable plant from India belonging to the Araceae family — the same family as Cryptocoryne and Anubias. It produces large, broadly ovate leaves on long petioles with a bold, textured surface that can reach impressive sizes in established aquariums. When grown emersed it produces striking heart-shaped flowers with distinctive reddish-pink outer petals — the source of its evocative common name.

Care tip: Like Cryptocoryne, Bleeding Heart may experience some leaf melt when first introduced to a new aquarium — a normal acclimation response that resolves once established. A nutrient-rich substrate and stable water parameters support the best long-term growth.

As a Lagenandra from India, Bleeding Heart shares some care requirements with Cryptocoryne while also having specific preferences of its own. It prefers cooler water than most tropical aquarium plants — between 65 and 75°F — making it better suited to cooler aquariums than typical tropical setups. Like Cryptocoryne, it may experience some leaf melt when first introduced to a new aquarium, and benefits from a nutrient-rich substrate where its root system can establish.

Bleeding Heart requires no CO₂ supplementation and grows under moderate lighting. A pH of 6.0 to 7.5 and temperatures between 65 and 75°F provide ideal conditions. Regular root feeding through enriched substrate or root tabs supports the production of the large, impressive leaves. It can be kept fully submerged in an aquarium or grown emergent in paludariums and terrariums where the remarkable heart-shaped flowers can develop.

In the aquascape, Bleeding Heart is a bold midground to background plant whose large, textured leaves create substantial visual presence. In cooler planted aquariums it can anchor the background zone with the same authority as large Cryptocoryne or Echinodorus species. In paludariums the combination of impressive submerged foliage and striking emersed flowers makes it a genuinely spectacular specimen plant.

Bleeding Heart is a rare and botanically fascinating plant for aquarists with appropriate cool-water setups or paludarium environments. Its large leaves, Indian provenance, and extraordinary emersed flowers make it one of the most botanically interesting Araceae plants available for the freshwater hobby.

Care & Specifications