Cryptocoryne Elliptica

''Cryptocoryne'' is a genus of aquatic plants from the family Araceae. The genus is naturally distributed in tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
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The typical habitats of ''Cryptocoryne'' are mostly streams and rivers with not too rapidly flowing water, in the lowland forest. They also live in seasonally inundated forest pools or on river banks submerged only at high water. Although the proper scientific name of the genus is ''Cryptocoryne'', they are commonly referred to as crypts. The English name "water trumpet" refers to their inflorescence, a spadix enclosed by a spathe (typical for the whole family), which resembles a trumpet.

The first ''Cryptocoryne'' species was described in 1779 as ''Arum spirale'' by Retzius. The genus was described by Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer in 1828. However, the scientific classification of ''Cryptocoryne'' species is very complicated and there are different opinions about it. ''Lagenandra'' is another genus closely related to the genus ''Cryptocoryne''. The two can be easily told apart since the leaves of ''Cryptocoryne'' species exhibit convolute vernation whereas ''Lagenandra'' species exhibit involute vernation.

The name ''Cryptocoryne'' is derived from the Greek ''crypto'', hidden, and ''koryne'', meaning club. The common name (water trumpet) refers to the shape of its inflorescence, which is typical of the Araceae family.
Image: Cryptocoryne Flower.JPG, Inflorescence of ''C. pontederiifolia''
Image: Cryptocoryne wendtii.JPG, ''C. wendtii'' "Green", the most popular ''Cryptocoryne''
Image:-Cryptocoryne wendtii- from Tropica farm.JPG, A form of ''C. wendtii'' produced by Tropica Aquarium Plants

Cultivation and uses

Some ''Cryptocoryne'' are popular commercially cultivated aquarium plants. Submerged plants reproduce vegetatively, emerse plants may flower and reproduce sexually. Many species are cultivated only by dedicated experts and are very hard to grow, or are not present in a culture at all. Some species are endangered because their natural habitats are disappearing. On the other hand, some water trumpets (e.g. ''Cryptocoryne beckettii'') are very hardy aquarium plants, easy to grow to the point that they have become an invasive species after being introduced in Florida in North America.

Cryptocoryne is either found in peat bogs or on limestone; the latter do well in most aquaria, the former must have soft water to survive and need decomposing beech leaf litter to do well. ''C. striolata,'' while found primarily in peat bogs, has also been found growing on limestone. Borneo is home to many endemic crypts previously thought to grow only in tea-colored soft acid water emulating peat bogs but exploration of habitats from 2005 to 2010 showed about half grew on limestone as well. These hardwater ''Cryptocorynes'' are generally the easier ones to keep (in fact, some species, such as ''Cryptocoryne wendtii'' are said to be among the most versatile of aquarium plants); they tolerate low or bright light but grow faster in more intense light. This water plant's range is around 12 to 33 °C, and slightly alkaline to neutral pH.

Plants of the genus ''Cryptocoryne'', which range from India to New Guinea are found in very diverse conditions. Some are true acid loving plants such as ''C. pallidnerva'', found in peat bogs in Borneo, while others such as ''C. crispatula var. balansae'' and ''C. pontiderifolia'' are found in streams with limestone beds—hard alkaline water. One species, ''C. ciliata'' is even found in semi- brackish water in some areas. It is one of the few aquarium plants that tolerates salt concentrations.

''Cryptocoryne'' plants have been in cultivation in the aquarium hobby since the late 18th century, although it was not until the 1960s that more than a handful of species was known and became more common in the hobby. New species still regularly crop up as interest in these plants widens and more collecting expeditions by private parties are carried out.

Crypt melt

A phenomenon often encountered when planting new crypts in an aquarium is commonly called ''Crypt melt'', whereby the plant loses all its leaves. There seem to be two possible causes for this.

Rapid environmental change is thought to trigger this, as these plants do not seem to adapt well to transplantion, and may need 30 days or so to become established and for the leaves to regrow. Experienced growers report that it is better to plant crypts in aquariums that have been established for at least three months.

In the wild, crypts can grow fully submerged underwater, but in some plant nurseries they are often grown emersed and crypt melt could then be triggered by the change from emerse to submerse conditions.

There is lately a trend for such nurseries to send crypts as just a rootstock (i.e. without the leaves) to reduce shipping costs and because the leaves will be lost anyway once planted in an aquarium.

Other reports emphasise the need to change the aquarium water regularly to prevent the buildup of nitrates which are thought to trigger this condition (often referred to as a ''disease'').

Species

# ''Cryptocoryne affinis'' N.E.Br. in J.D.Hooker - Thailand, Malaysia
# '' Cryptocoryne alba'' de Wit - Sri Lanka
# ''Cryptocoryne albida'' R.Parker - southern China, eastern India, Bangladesh, Indochina
# '' Cryptocoryne annamica'' Serebryanyi - Vietnam
# ''Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia'' Merr. - Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne aura'' - West kalimantan
# ''Cryptocoryne auriculata'' Engl. - Sarawak, Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne bangkaensis'' Bastm. - Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne beckettii'' Thuill. ex Trim. - Sri Lanka; naturalized in Texas
# '' Cryptocoryne bogneri'' Rataj - Sri Lanka
# '' Cryptocoryne bullosa'' Becc. - Sarawak
# ''Cryptocoryne ciliata'' (Roxb.) Schott - India, Bangladesh, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne cognata'' Schott - India
# ''Cryptocoryne consobrina'' Schott - India
# ''Cryptocoryne cordata var. brunneus'' Yosuke Kobayashi. - Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne cordata var. cordata'' Griff. - Malaysia
# ''Cryptocoryne cordata var. siamensis'' Griff. - Thai
# '' Cryptocoryne cordata var. diderici'' Griff. - Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne cordata var. natunensis'' Yosuke Kobayashi. - Natuna Island
# ''Cryptocoryne cordata var. grandis'' Ridl. - Northeast Borneo
# '' Cryptocoryne cordata var. grabowskii'' Engl. - South Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne cordata var. zonata'' de Wit. - Sri Aman
# ''Cryptocoryne coronata'' Bastm. & Wijng. - Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula'' Engl. - Southeast Asia
# '' Cryptocoryne crispatula var. alba'' Yosuke Kobayashi. - Thai, Laos
# '' Cryptocoryne cruddasiana'' Prain - Myanmar
# '' Cryptocoryne decus-silvae'' de Wit - Johor
# ''Cryptocoryne dewitii'' N.Jacobsen - Papua New Guinea
# ''Cryptocoryne purpurea nothovar. edithiae'' de Wit - South Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne elliptica'' N.E.Br. - Malaysia
# '' Cryptocoryne ferruginea'' Engl. - Sarawak
# ''Cryptocoryne fusca'' de Wit - Borneo
# '' Cryptocoryne griffithii'' Schott - Kalimantan, Peninsular Malaysia
# '' Cryptocoryne hudoroi'' Bogner & N.Jacobsen - Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne huluensis'' Yosuke Kobayashi - West Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne ideii'' Budianto - Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne jacobsenii'' de Wit - Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne joshanii'' Naive & Villanueva - Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne keei'' N.Jacobsen - Sarawak
# '' Cryptocoryne lingua'' Becc. ex Engl - Sarawak
# '' Cryptocoryne loeiensis'' Bastm., T.Idei & N.Jacobsen - Laos, Thailand
# ''Cryptocoryne longicauda''Becc. ex Engl. - Borneo, Malaysia, Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne mekongensis'' T.Idei, Bastm. & N.Jacobsen - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
# ''Cryptocoryne minima'' Ridl. - Malaysia, Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne moehlmannii'' de Wit - Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne nevillii'' Trimen - Sri Lanka
# ''Cryptocoryne noritoi'' Wongso - Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne nurii var. nurii'' Furtado - Peninsular Malaysia
# ''Cryptocoryne nurii var. raubensis'' N.Jacobsen - Peninsular Malaysia
# '' Cryptocoryne pallidinervia'' Engl. - Borneo
# '' Cryptocoryne parva'' de Wit- Sri Lanka
# '' Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia'' Schott - Sumatra
# '' Cryptocoryne purpurea nothovar. purpurea'' Ridl. - Peninsular Malaysia
# '' Cryptocoryne purpurea nothovar. sarawakensis'' Yosuke Kobayashi. - sarawak
# '' Cryptocoryne purpurea nothovar. borneoensis'' N.Jacobsen , Bastm. - Central Kalimantan
# '' Cryptocoryne pygmaea'' Merr. - Philippines
# ''Cryptocoryne retrospiralis'' (Roxb.) Kunth - Bangladesh, India, Myanmar
# '' Cryptocoryne schulzei'' de Wit - Johor
# '' Cryptocoryne scurrilis'' de Wit - Sumatra
# ''Cryptocoryne sivadasanii'' Bogner - southern India
# ''Cryptocoryne spiralis'' (Retz.) Fisch. ex Wydler - Bangladesh, India
# '' Cryptocoryne striolata'' Engl. - Borneo
# '' Cryptocoryne thwaitesii'' Schott - Sri Lanka
# '' Cryptocoryne timahensis'' Bastm. - Singapore ''(C. cordata × C. nurii)''
# '' Cryptocoryne uenoi'' Yuji Sasaki - Sarawak
# '' Cryptocoryne undulata'' Wendt - Sri Lanka
# ''Cryptocoryne usteriana'' Engl. - Philippines
# '' Cryptocoryne versteegii'' Engl. - New Guinea
# '' Cryptocoryne vietnamensis'' I.Hertel & H.Mühlberg - Vietnam
# '' Cryptocoryne villosa'' N.Jacobsen - Sumatra
# ''Cryptocoryne walkeri'' Schott - Sri Lanka
# ''Cryptocoryne wendtii'' de Wit - Sri Lanka
# '' Cryptocoryne × willisii'' Reitz - Sri Lanka ''(C. parva × C. walkeri)''
# ''Cryptocoryne yujii'' Bastm. - Sarawak
# '' Cryptocoryne zaidiana'' Ipor & Tawan - Sarawak
# ''Cryptocoryne zukalii'' Rataj - Peninsular Malaysia

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1423091

Araceae genera
Aquarium plants