UAHUA

I was curiuos if anyone has any experience or info about this plant. Is this the same as E. latifolius or is this a completely different species? There is not a whole lot of info about E. 'xingu and most of the pictures have the name E. latifolius attached to them. Any help or links with info would be appreciated. And would this plant actually fall under the same genus as all the other chain swords and actually be a Helanthium species and not be classified as Echindorus anymore.

miremonster

Yes, it falls under Helanthium, and is something from the Helanthium bolivianum group. There's a big mess in the trade with different Helanthium forms and their names. It may be that different plants are called "Echinodorus xinguensis". Ones being different from E. latifolius as well as the same stuff. The same problem with other names for broad-leaved Helanthiums in the trade such as E. magdalenensis, E. quadricostatus etc.
I don't know if there are cultivated plants that are identical with the plant scientifically described as E. xinguensis.
Perhaps Daniel Falck knows more about the issue.