Your photos are too dark to see any details and colorations.
But the last 3 photos should be C. pygmaea
Your photos are too dark to see any details and colorations.
But the last 3 photos should be C. pygmaea
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
Mind sharing where you get the crypts from? If the pictures are not clear, the location where they are found might help...
Just my guess from my limited knowledge... The first one looks like C.beckettii var petchii... But how big is the plant? The second crypt looks like C.willisii...
Read me! :bigsmile: http://justikanz.blogspot.com/
I'm crypt collecting... Starting cheap, now have Cryptocoryne beckettii, C.beckettii var petchii, C.crispatula var.balansae, C.griffithii(Melted! ), C.nurii, C.parva, C.pygmaea(Melted! ), C.tonkinensis(Melted! ), C.walkeri, C.wendtii 'Brown', C.wendtii 'Green', C.wendtii 'Green Gecko', C.wendtii 'Tropica' and Cryptocoryne x willisii
Oh, juggling is hard work, man!...
I got the package from the online shop, but din include label.
The plants are either c. becketti 'petchii', c becketti, pymmaea or wendii 'Tropica'.
The first plant is about palm size for the entire plant. It seems like c. becketti ' petchii'.
I think the last one is c. pymmaea
But really no idea what is the second crypt.
Last edited by andrewtyr; 7th Jun 2006 at 23:28.
Cheers,
Andrew
the seller told me the second picture is c. wendtii 'Tropica' on the overexposed side.
Cheers,
Andrew
I think crypt A most probably is tropica judging from the leaves and patterns (pic 2). Emerse leaveof wendtii tropica is usually more oval shaped too.
Becketii and petchii does not have that kind of veins and is more longish in shape.
The last crypt is definitely pygmaea.
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
Hmm... I didn't see any veins on my C. wendtii 'tropica' leh... But maybe my leaves are a little new... The colour seems to match, though...
But do the stem colour say something about the plant?
Read me! :bigsmile: http://justikanz.blogspot.com/
I'm crypt collecting... Starting cheap, now have Cryptocoryne beckettii, C.beckettii var petchii, C.crispatula var.balansae, C.griffithii(Melted! ), C.nurii, C.parva, C.pygmaea(Melted! ), C.tonkinensis(Melted! ), C.walkeri, C.wendtii 'Brown', C.wendtii 'Green', C.wendtii 'Green Gecko', C.wendtii 'Tropica' and Cryptocoryne x willisii
Oh, juggling is hard work, man!...
Sure have veins, see closer lor. But I would be able to recognise the tropica if i am holding one. ok... not really
color is not a good nor accurate way to ID the crypts.
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
what about leaf shape?Originally Posted by lorba
there is a disguishable difference between A and B.
I thought that A looked more like petchii
Cheers,
Andrew
leaf shape can only use to identify general groups of crypt.
For big, cordate (oval to round leaves) with long stem, we are probably talking about cordata series such as siamensis, blassii, cordata, zonata, pontederiifolia etc. These are generally malaysian species.
Wendtii series has their own shapes, and becketii, petchii are quite close to it. These are generally sri lankan species.
For bullated crypts, we have these keei, affinis (sometimes), bullosa etc that looks quite alike. These are generally malaysian species, more towards the E. Msia side.
Of course, there are some other sp that have different leaf forms in the same area.
Uniquely shaped crypts are species like parva, lingua, balansae, etc.
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
actually I thought that balansae's shape is more like usteriana.
so is there no other way to distinguish becketii and wendtii? I still think A is petchii and B is wendtii 'Tropica'.
Cheers,
Andrew
I am not saying you can't ID them, in fact, if you handle them often enough, you can probably ID by just by looking at the plants.
If you are sure what sp you have bought, I think A = tropica anad B = petchii.
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
thanks, lorba! now they are wasting away in my tank now. Hope they recover!
Cheers,
Andrew
B could be petchii?? ...
Interesting... So, how to accurately ID crypts? A full combination of several factors? Like size, colour, leaf shape, etc? What about using only the flowers?
Read me! :bigsmile: http://justikanz.blogspot.com/
I'm crypt collecting... Starting cheap, now have Cryptocoryne beckettii, C.beckettii var petchii, C.crispatula var.balansae, C.griffithii(Melted! ), C.nurii, C.parva, C.pygmaea(Melted! ), C.tonkinensis(Melted! ), C.walkeri, C.wendtii 'Brown', C.wendtii 'Green', C.wendtii 'Green Gecko', C.wendtii 'Tropica' and Cryptocoryne x willisii
Oh, juggling is hard work, man!...
Flower is the only accurate way to ID them as some plants looks very similiar to each other.
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
I see budak take years to flower a pot of crypts, it could well take the same amount of time to ID one pot.
Cheers,
Andrew
Crypts are a group of plant species which exhibit high polymorphism. So if you look at just the leaf (colour, shape, size) and growth pattern, you can't really tell betwen species like wendtii (and there are so many varieties of C. wendtii alone), walkeri, undulata, becketii (see the Crypt page's species section to see what i mean). Only the colour and structure of the flower can be used reliably to determine a species, and most species flower only when exposed to air.
At best, it's usually good enough to identify a crypt at a group level, e.g. a Sri Lankan species, a member of the Cordata group, Crispatula group etc... without the flower, you cannot ever reach a conclusion with many species.
Even worse than crypts are the mosses. Don't get me started on this....
is there anyway to accelerate the flowering process?
Cheers,
Andrew
Crypts will very very rarely flower in aquarium conditions. Except for those in the crispatula group and species like C. aponogetifolia, most species need to be emmersed or in very shallow water that allows their flowers to be exposed to air (for pollenation by small insects). Growing them emmersed in pot with a covered container (they need high humidity, our household condition is much too dry, unlike their native swamps) in a spot with a little sunlight each day seems to be the best bet. But basically, if you are looking to grow them as aquarium plants, knowing which general group they belong to is sufficient – e.g. most common Sri Lankan crypts tolerate a fair amount of handling and are unfussy, while the cordata group and other Indo-Malayan species (e.nurii, griffithi) like acidic conditions, dislike being moved and require a long time before they will recover and grow.
thanks! very informative stuff from the experienced green hands!
I just picked up the love for crypts not long ago, I must say they grow really slow, mine is still rotting away.
Cheers,
Andrew
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