# Correct ID of two crypts



## Diemer (Jan 27, 2008)

Hi all! First of all thanks for a great place for answering those cryptocoryne-questions - I´m a first time poster but many times reader 

I´ve bougth 2 diffenrent crypts from a Ebay-seller in Thailand. Supposedly it should be C. Affinis and C. Balansae, but I´m not sure that's the case. For a relative Crypt-newbie as me, they seem more like C. Becketti and C. Albida - but I have never had any of these 4 species before, so I´m not sure.

So I have taken a couple of pictures, and hope you can help me ID them.

First crypt :









Second crypt : 









What do you think ?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The second crypt may be C. spiralis or another member of the crispatula group, and the first could be a C. wendtii variety. I feel more sure about the second identification than I do about the first. I am not very good at identifying emersed crypts; let's see what others think.


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Paul's guesses seem very reasonable to me. Try to post pics when your plants have adapted though; inflorescences would be even nicer... 

While identification of crypts without flower is usually not reliable, I feel pretty confident that these aren't affinis and balansae.

1st ebay rule: Caveat emptor.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

Diemer;

Welcome aboard.

I agree with Paul and Kai as well.

The second is the easier plant to identify and is a member of the crispatula group of Crypts, a group having the varieties balansae and crispatula in it among others. My guess would be balansae since at least in the US it is as common as dirt (even though you did buy them from someone in Thailand and it could be tonkinensis).

The first picture could be anyone's guess. The plants are pretty small so it's hard to tell.

Here's a link you may find helpful as the plants get larger.
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/Cryptocoryne/Botanical/alphabet.html

By the way, who was the eBay seller?

Cheers.
Jim


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Actually, Jim, I don't think this is a member of the crispatula group (it certainly isn't any balansae strain I've seen) - looks like spiralis although this needs confirmation by growing habits of a larger plant and, of course, flowering it...


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

Kai;

I'm sure your right. For some reason spiralis completely slipped my mind. (I gotta cut back on the caffeine ) It's hard to tell from the small picture and you have a much better eye for this than I. Flowering is the best way to tell.

Cheers.
Jim


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