About a year ago, I received a shipment of cryptocoryne labeled as ‘wild crypt’. It was unclear at the time as to what this plant was. Here’s are a few pictures of that plant from when I received it.
I posted it up on Aquatic Plant Central to get some opinions, and at the end it was concluded that this might be Cryptocoryne shultzei.
I potted it up and it grew decent over the last year, I haven’t lost any plants at all. There are, however, two distinct growing patterns. More on that later. About three weeks ago, I noticed what appeared to be the beginins of a spathe. I was very
excited – at long last, I’ll find out what this crypt really is.
Here’s a picture of the plant and unopened spathe from yesterday.
After waiting impatiently for 3 weeks, the spathe finally opened up today. Take a look….
The color can be best described as a rusty red.
Inside the tube, there are some light speckles of red, which quickly fade out.
No color on the inside walls of the kettle.
Noticed the reddish speckles on the male part of the flower.
The female flower.
So..what the verdict? No clue! The spathe does not match anything that’s currently on Jan’s website. I’m going to email these pictures to Jan and Neils Jacobsen, maybe they can ID this plant for me.
UPDATE:
I’ve heard back from Jan, and also found pictures on his website. The conclusion is that this is Cryptocoryne x purpurea. Even though this is not the common color variety, its still to be considered Cryptocoryne x purpurea.