This plant gets huge. I pulled 44 inch leaves on these plants from a ten gallon tank. Obviously it needs a larger tank than that. In a 20 gallon tank I had on the floor, I pulled leaves out that were taller than I am and I'm 5'7". The photo to the left has jungle val that had been planted about a month prior to the time I took the photo. These are in a 50 gallon tank. They will form a dense cover at the top of the tank which will keep light from getting to plants below. I regularly trim mine, with scissors, to just above the high water level of the tank.

This is a common plant, when I think of an aquatic plant. these come to mind, I think this is the most often illustrated aquatic plant. It's a fast growing plant. I once pulled 80 plants from a five gallon hex tank. I have 4 other real nice types going American Val, Italian Val, twisted Val and a nice short growing Val. I'm not really sure what their scientific names are, different reference books seem to give the same plants different names. The American Val has longer thinner leaves and covers the top. The Italian Val is shorter, has stiffer leaves and doesn't cover the top of the tank as much as the American, and is pictured to the right on the top. The twisted or corkscrew Val has twisted leaves and tends to stay shorter, like the Italian Val. The short Val is just that and is pictured below.