Back in October of 09, a friend of mine, Kai Terukuni, went collecting in Lingga island in Indonesia. Among some of the crypts he found and collected was one he labelled Cryptocoryne sp. Desa Musai Timur, Pulau LINGGA[LNG-7].
A few pictures of the habitat by Kai.
Additionally, here’s a link to some video of the habitat.
A fairly shaded shallow stream with a sandy bottom.
I was lucky to receive a specimen from this locality in November.
This plant flowered around the end of December 09 and then again in early January.
Cryptocoryne scurrilis? I’ll send the pictures to Jan to be identified.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
Cryptocoryne zukalii is a very special plant. Back in the ’70s, a local collected this plant from somewhere in West Malaysia and sold it to an exporter. From there it made it over to Robert Gasser in Florida, and from there to Jan in Europe, and that’s where I got it from! However, the exact location it was collected from was never found, and it’s never been collected again! Part of the reason may be that without a spathe, this plant looks very much like C. cordata. You could be out there looking for this plant and walk right by it thinking its C. cordata. So, the plant that I have here, is a descendant of the original collection from the 70’s.
Its growth habit is very similar to C. cordata, with one notable exception; the petioles are almost always very long. Although I wouldn’t call it a fast growing plant, it propagates readily via long runners.
Last week, I noticed one of my plants starting to throw up a spathe! An exciting moment, since I’d been growing this plant for over 2 years now. Right off, you can see the spathe is very different from C. cordata. The limb appears to be very long.
A few days later, the tube has reached its full length, and the spathe is about to open.
Then last night, I came home from work to find it had opened up. A beautiful and elegant spathe, with the color that I can only describe as ‘Pumpkin pie’ 
Like pumpkin pie…
Note that the color sharply cuts off to white in the tube.
This plant is unique and wonderful. If you haven’t had the chance to grow this yet, I highly recommend it! Additionally, since it’s so close to C. cordata, I bet it will grow well submersed.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
Different from my other two varieties of bangkaensis, this one sports green leaves that are slightly bullate.
It also has a fair bit of wine-red coloration under the leaves, especially the veins.
Though this one does not grow quite as large as the ‘Bangka Giant’ variety, this is a very beautiful crypt and this week it threw up a spathe for the first time.
With a ‘toothed’ edge on the limb of the spathe, a fairly well defined collar and narrow throat, the spathe is quite distinct. The mottled coloration of the limb has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated.
The purple coloration in the throat fades down to white in the tube, with some additional color in the kettle.
Collector code: Cryptocoryne bangkaensis Waser 2001-4
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
I’ve had this plant flower before, but in the three more recent times its bloomed, I noticed that even though overall the spathe was getting larger as the plant got larger, the tube was actually getting shorter, and it was the kettle that was getting taller. Last week, two spathes opened up at the same time showing the following:
Notice how tall the kettle is.
A cross section of the spathe shows the tube is almost non-existent, a very long spadix and well developed male and female flowers.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
Found only in a limited area in Johore, Malaysia, I was quite happy to receive this plant earlier this year. Though I wouldn’t call the growth vigorous, it is healthy, growing well for me and producing runners. The leaves are green with red markings on them. Last week, this plant threw up a spathe.
You can see a fairly pronounced collar.
The spathe only lasted a few days, and by the 3rd day was already shriveling – I waited too long for the cross section picture, but you see the purple in the throat, giving way to a white tube and kettle that have a little purple speckling.
Note the emarginate top of the stigma’s.
I’m hoping to propagate more of this out and I think it might do well in aquariums.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
One of the many Cryptocoryne cordata in my collection recently flowered for the first time.
Collector information: Cryptocoryne cordata ‘Siamensis’ NJT02-52
I received this plant from a friend, who happens to be one of the reasons I got addicted to growing Cryptocoryne, Sean Murphy. I believe he’d obtained it at some point during his participation at ECS several years ago. The plant grows in typical cordata fashion, nothing special was done to grow it or flower it. With attractive leaves almost 2″ wide and 3″ long, its a beautiful specimen. The spathe is typical cordata, but you’ll notice the limb has a dirty brown coloration to it and is slightly textured.
The male and female parts of the flower are well developed, with a shortened spadix.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
This week, after much anticipation, the spathe on Cryptocoryne sp. JP0501 finally opened up! Unlike any other spathe I’ve seen in person before, the flower is gorgeous, with rich color and texture! Additionally, its quite a large flower, and if you compare it to any of the spathe pictures on Jan’s website, you’ll see that this does not match any known Cryptocoryne species! As I understand from my recent conversations with Niels Jacobsen, this plant is still being investigated and as of right now is thought to be a hybrid between Cryptocoryne minima and Cryptocoryne griffithi. My personal opinion is that the texture resembles nurii more than griffithi. You certainly can see characteristics of both those plants in this spathe. I’ll be sending my pictures of the plant and spathe over to Jan soon, and hope to have some additional information about this unknown Cryptocoryne.
Collector code is: C. sp., JP0501, Sumatra, Riau, Sungei Pelan (Bast 1123).
Onto the pictures!
The spathe a day prior to opening.
It opened up, you can see the limb is long, but its curled down and back making the limb look shorter than it actually is.
Note the texture on the limb. Looks a little like nurii, don’t you think?
The spathe is quite large, almost as wide across as my thumb.
A cross section reveals purple color just inside the throat, but the rest is white.
It opened up, you can see the limb is long, but its curled down and back making the limb look shorter than it actually is.
The female flower is well developed.
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
Frequently, Cryptocoryne are collected from new locations and without flowers present, are simply labelled with a code. In this case, its JP0501, and I received this plant on my trip to ECS a couple of years ago. I brought it back with me along with several other plants. The plant did not fare the journey well – it simply melted into a pile of goo. All that was left was a tiny bit of rhizome, barely 2mm in size. That little bit of rhizome, with a lot of TLC, has now grown to this:
Gorgeous isn’t it?! Took two years to get here – but that’s all part of the fun – the challenge!
Over the last few months, this mother plant has been producing runners non-stop. I probably have 4-5 of these plants in various stages of growth now. That’s good news – since I’m probably the only one with this one in the US. I need to give some out to a few friends to ensure that it remains in culture.
Additionally, it’s started to send up a spathe!
..unlike any I’ve seen to date! Very exciting!
I cannot wait till it opens up to reveal its identity – or will it? 
Stay tuned….
Ghazanfar Ghori Spathes
