# Silver speckling on submersed leaves?



## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

A couple weeks ago, I received some Cryptocorynes from Malaysia in a group order. There were a few free gifts in the shipment. One of these freebies were some rhizomes labeled, C. wendtii 'Brown'. The wendtii went home with me. One of these rhizomes is not like the others. 

I'm not necessarily looking for an ID(but if you have one let me hear it), but I was wondering if anyone has ever seen this awesome silver speckling before. I have combed the web looking for pics or descriptions that would explain or match it. Nothing so far. The other C. wendtii 'Brown's that came with it, are surrounding it (and a tiny baby C. x willis var. lucens).

BTW, my best guess is C. undulata from the ruffled edge and marmorated markings.



















So does anyone know what causes this? Or know of a species that gets these shimmering spots?


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## bdoss1985 (Aug 14, 2014)

So hard to guess with leaves since different conditions can cause the leaves in crypts to differ. When it grows out a little more we can get a better guess though

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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

I know an ID is basically out of the question right now, undulata was just my guess. I'm really more curious about the silvery white speckling. It reminds me of the speckling that Bucephalandra species get when grown submersed.


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## bdoss1985 (Aug 14, 2014)

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## bdoss1985 (Aug 14, 2014)

I do have a buce with that also









Odd silvery only see it under water though

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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

Does that undulata have silver speckles? I can't tell from the pic. If it does, I'd be curious to know if any other species get them too, or is this an undocumented characteristic of undulata specifically?


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## bdoss1985 (Aug 14, 2014)

Sorry no Idea on the undulata emersed it doesn't

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## reardons (Nov 4, 2014)

Silver specking is common on Bruce's, which are a rhizome plant. Crypts are rooted plants.

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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

I think there may be some confusion about the plant in question and what I am wondering about it.

Has anyone ever seen silver spangling on a Cryptocoryne, similar to what is seen on submersed Bucephalandra? If so, do you know what caused it? As the plant is so young, I can't test any theories at this point to see if its an artifact of its environment(lighting, substrate, fertilizers) or genetic. If it is environmental, I figure with the long lasting popularity of Crptocorynes, somebody will have seen it before. I'd like to keep it looking like this, so if something causes it, I want to keep doing it. 

On another note, it seems to be doing extremely well! Over night, its leaf bud opened and a new leaf bud popped up. At this rate, I may be testing some theories sooner that I thought.


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## serenityfate1 (Sep 4, 2014)

I also recently received a crypt for free . And it too has speckling on its leaves just the same as buces. And ir emember reading a member with the same thing happening to his crypt flamingo. Im not sure why. But i just chimed in to say i have the same "problem"? I need to take pics to post here


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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

Nice, I'd love to see some pics! I did a search on here and found Yo-Hans Flamingo, it looks like it has it. Did yours come with the spangled leaves or grow them in your tank? What's your lighting like? I'm starting to think it's an artifact of very high lighting. Yo-Han also uses a lot of light, not sure the exact amounts, but it looks like a lot. Mine is growing directly under 52 watts of '5600K' light and 10 inches of water, totaling only 10 gallons(20 high, half-full). I can't get PAR numbers, but at 5.2 watts/gallon, it's a lot. Some algae(Zooxanthellae) are know for producing light-defending proteins when exposed to high levels of light. These proteins are often a metallic white/blue, reflecting light, protecting them from excessive free radicals that are produced during photosynthesis. Of course it could easily be something different.

Time will tell, but I have a jumping off point for some experimentation.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

IME, Cryptocoryne grown in high light do develop a waxy layer which seems to sparkle a little.


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## JSeymour (May 26, 2016)

Awesome, just what I wanted to hear and it backs up an observation I had last night, my C. pontederiifolia are finally starting to grow, and their new leaves look like they have it too. They are also developing red on the top surface of the leaf, I assume also due to high lighting.










Thank you everyone for your replies.


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