# Common weedy Bucephalandra



## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

OK, maybe not quite a weed. Just finally got my first Buce after holding off for years. As soon as I hit "Pay," though, I knew it wouldn't be enough, so went directly to the for sale/trade forum here and got a collection.

Apparently mass produced Bucephalandra have finally happened, dragging lower prices and unlabeled plants along with them. Probably will be mislabeled ones soon enough, from both the growers and buyers making guesses. I'm a collector type, so that's a love/hate thing. It's great that I can finally get them affordably and quickly, but misidentified plants in a collection drive me batty. I'd bet that this is going to start being a pretty common question once a few thousand people start getting these unlabeled plants, but hoping that only a few known varieties are already in production. I'm curious whether any Buce fans here see anything distinctive enough in this one to identify the cv., at least enough for me to tag it with a "possibly?" or something. I wouldn't label it as definite without a big consensus and more direct info.

I guessed 'Sintang,' that one being similar and maybe more common right now, but I'm not familiar enough with them to be at all confident. I also don't know whether the leaves are emerse, submerse, or recently immersed.

I haven't unpotted it to see whether it was s cutting or direct from micropropagation yet, I'll check that when I pot it up or mount it.

Pot: Established in 2" mesh pot with roots growing through rockwool.
Plant Size: ~4" (10cm) across including leaves, 2" tall; 5 branches
Foliage: Green, blade ~1 to 1.5" (3-4cm) long; margins undulate-crispulate; fine bright spotting; new growth yellowish; stems and cataphylls reddish.
Flower: Unopened, looks like every other developing Bucephalandra spathe I've seen photos of.
Source: I don't remember the rules about seller details for this forum. It came from a big auction site as "Bucephalandra Species Potted," shipped from Monterey Park, CA, US.

Here are some pics of it dropped into a temporary spot until the collection tank is arranged better. The shrimp is not full size yet.

Whole plant:










Growth point:










Unopened flower:










The spotting is less obvious in real life, it shows more in the photo here:










Any ideas?


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Making a good pressed specimen to send to Peter Boyce would probably be best. It's a tall order based on what we have here even though you have taken the trouble to be descriptive and take some pics.


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Ah, thanks, I thought as much. I think I'll wait until it's a bit bigger and has a mature flower before pressing any. Maybe I should put some out emerse as well, I've read the flowers are more distinctive that way.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

dirtmonkey, I believe that the same plant is available in lfs also in Europe, in-vitro and potted, under several names, e.g. "Melawi" (there are apparently several different plants with the label "Melawi"). And I also guess that it's actually the "Bukit Kelam / Sintang".
I know the latter developing upright (instead of creeping to ascending) rhizomes when submerged; also your plant?

It's also recommendable to put a mature inflorescence in 70% ethanol. Best at the time when the upper part of the spathe is dropped and the spadix (flower club) is visible. Perhaps Peter Boyce can give advice for the best preserving method. Also a sharp closeup of the spadix in side view, after cutting away the lower part of the spathe, may be valuable, examples:

__
https://flic.kr/p/14540004342

According to Wong & Boyce, likely more than 50 Bucephalandra species exist; about the half is described by now. I expect that Buce ID will be similarly challenging as Crypt ID... with variability in leaf shape and colour within a single species, even from the same locality, as well as about the same look of plants belonging to different species.


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

Thank you miremonster; I've just finally gotten around to reading the Wong & Boyce paper last night. The inflorecense photos were very educational. Seeing illustrated the different shapes of the staminate flower projections was as interesting as learning about the motile staminodes! I will document and preserve specimens as they bloom, but I know that will only help to species level - or species group, since so many are not yet formally described. This plant might never get its original collection name back.

I'm very curious whether either the lumper or splitter taxonomists might win out when more molecular phylogeny is added to the mix.

I did not know about the upright growth habit of 'Bukit Kelam'/'Sintang.' I'll watch out for that as these grow. Right now the growth is more horizontal and crowded from the hydroponic culture, so it doesn't say much about habit in normal tanks.


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