Lorensia megafolius
Derived from Lorensia submergius
Zone 20
Size: leaves are 4-5.5 feet tall. They are 1/3-1/2 feet wide. The runners are up to 4 feet long.
Lorensia megafolius is almost autonomically the same as submergius except for 2 main features. 1. It has larger and taller leaves to collect more sunlight. Because it can do this it can live in deeper parts of the lake and thus not compete with submergius. It thrives in the mud at the bottom of the lake. The second major difference is that it sends out runners from the base of the plant to create new plants from it. A plant usually sends around 8-10 runners. It also creates seeds like its ancestor and in the exact same way. These runners create dense mats of plants at the bottom of the lake. These plants have no ties to one another after the runners break off. It cannot reproduce as fast as submergius because it has to allocate energy to 2 reproductive sources. Runners are produced in favorable conditions such as much sunlight and high gas concentration, while seeds are produced in unfavorable conditions. Photoperiod is one of the key factors, a long day such as 13 hours of direct sun over a course of a few weeks will cause them to send out runners, but a short day such as 3 hours over a few weeks will encourage them to make seeds. Gasses are another main factor, when the plant has enough of each type of gas (co2, o2) it will send out runners, if it does not it will make seeds. It detects it because of the amount of sugar it can make during photosynthesis. If it can make a lot the plant detects it and sends out runners, if It can only make a little then it make seeds.