# Cryptocoryne sp. Kota Tinggi spathe



## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

After much anticipation, it finally sent out a spathe this April. This specimen was collected at the end of last June (2007) together with some friends from "Aquaholics Singapore" at Kota Tinggi. Before reaching the place, One of my pals had pre-empted us that the place is in a deplorable state with the "locality" being reduced to an extremely shallow mud pool on his last visit to the abandoned plantation, clinging on to the edge of mortality. We were told not to bear to much expectations if we not to find anyting left. We don't know what to make out of it. I'd post pictures of the biotope later.

During the fieldtrip, I'd collected two specimens for myself. One large one with two growths, and this little fella which had barely a few leaves. I was quite surprised to see how robust the plants were despite the growing conditions, and how little they have evolved over the year or so in my care. the foliage remained dark and big and the tail reached a towering height of close to 20 cm from the kettle at the point of opening. Most crypts undertake quite dramatic changes in foliage and sometimes even inflorescence appearance when brought into cultivation. The initial development of the spathe began on April Fools' Day (what a joke right!?) and took about 3 weeks or so before opening. And it "bloomed" ever so beautifully as the ones we saw back in Kota Tinggi.

First day upon opening










Second Day, notice how the tail had changed.










The sexy curvatures of the "rear" view









A closeup of the limb, revealing very crinkled textures, golden yellow ends and a somewhat yellowish throat.










Close up of the kettle and the tube. Notice how the tube develops a distinct 'twist & twirl" which bears striking difference to my specimens of C. schulzei which also sent out spathes around the same time.










Finally, a closeup of the kettle content. About 6 female flowers and a few dozens of male flowers. Yellow valve.










I'm glad to be able to see it in full glory again. Removed the spathe after the photo-shoot and how it's time to plump it up again with fertilisation. the bigger specimen has now 2 plantets running and should be ready to go anytime soon!


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Very nice plant.


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

wow beautiful im sorry to hear about their ever dieing environment, id love to see the environment picture's when you get a time. Is so sad to hear that many of the crypts have such specific environmental requirements that many of their habitat's are dieing out. I heard theres another crypt in a growing plantation area that requires a specific type of palm oil to survive and now that it isn't receiving that certain type of oil the crypts are now down to the twenties in population


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## Khamul1of9 (Oct 25, 2005)

Wow, very nice color. Enough to rival orchids. Thanks for sharing this one.


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

Thanks guys. 
This specific locality of _C._ sp. Kota Tinggi is particularly worrying. Hopefully there are other more sustainable populations around.

Here are the pictures of the locality from last June's collection.

The locality as a mentioned, is a mud pool within a matured oil palm plantation. It's a very small patch, no bigger than the area of a queen-sized bed I would sy.










An opened spathe from the locality, with another unopened spathe on the same plant.










The same plant uprooted. The muddy background is the mudpool I'd mentioned.










Collected specimens collectively amongst 3 friends, all displaying dark rust-coloured leaves. The stream in the background is not the mudpool itself but a small effluent which runs through the plantation. We used the water to wash off the mud and gunk on the plants but still as you can see in the pictures, they still look rather dirty.










Interestingly, no syncarpium opened or closed were found within the area. This is probably one of the reasons to lead most to believe that _C._ sp. Kota Tinggi is a natural hybrid of some species found within Peninsula Malaysia.


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

_C. cordata _var. _cordata_ can also be found within this plantation. Pictures would follow later.


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## Yoong (Nov 26, 2007)

Corymad,
Thanks for sharing. Very beautiful flower. I often think that you can only find crypts like Minima in palm oil plantation and hence doesn't take a second look at them whenever I go for field trip. How I have to think to think twice.

Sad to hear that the area is getting detroyed. But by the look at your first picture. It seem like someone is still maintaining the plantation. The oilpalm looks old though. Lets hope they don't decide to replant the whole area and that will be the end of the plant.

Yoong


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## Xema (Mar 24, 2004)

Very beautiful pictures. Well done!!


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

Yoong said:


> Corymad,
> Thanks for sharing. Very beautiful flower. I often think that you can only find crypts like Minima in palm oil plantation and hence doesn't take a second look at them whenever I go for field trip. How I have to think to think twice.
> 
> Sad to hear that the area is getting detroyed. But by the look at your first picture. It seem like someone is still maintaining the plantation. The oilpalm looks old though. Lets hope they don't decide to replant the whole area and that will be the end of the plant.
> ...


Hi Yoong, 
From the nice stack of old foliage gathered in one corner of the plantation, it certainly does look like the place has been maintained on a regular basis. But like what you'd said, the palms have past their prime, probably around 18-20 years old. And when the plantation owner decides that its time for these old batch of crops to go, doom most certainly awaits _ C. _sp. Kota Tinggi which could only survive under the shade of the palm foliage.

Let's see if there's an opportunity to revisit the site this coming dry season. Hope they are still around.

PS: it's interesting to find _C. minima_ in oil palm plantation. I assume you mean the streams which flow through the plantations bordering Pondok Tanjung?


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

Xema said:


> Very beautiful pictures. Well done!!


Hi Xema, 
Thanks for the kind words. Those you'd received from Roland should be from the same locality.


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## Yoong (Nov 26, 2007)

corymad said:


> Hi Yoong,
> From the nice stack of old foliage gathered in one corner of the plantation, it certainly does look like the place has been maintained on a regular basis. But like what you'd said, the palms have past their prime, probably around 18-20 years old. And when the plantation owner decides that its time for these old batch of crops to go, doom most certainly awaits _ C. _sp. Kota Tinggi which could only survive under the shade of the palm foliage.
> 
> Let's see if there's an opportunity to revisit the site this coming dry season. Hope they are still around.
> ...


Minima is often found in the oilpalm plantations. they can be found in many different site. They are one of those tought one that survive the deforestation and regrow after replantation.


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

yeah, some _Cryptocoryne_ species have rhizomes and underground runners which dig so deep into the substrate that allows them to survive unscathed after temporal acts of devastation e.g. deforestation, foliage melting due to sudden changes in water parameters arising from pollution, and even brief peat swamp fires. Given appropriate conditions, they may have the ability to recolonise a seemingly destroy locality. That's why crypts are an interesting group which continue to baffle and fascinate many of us time to time again.

But despite their resilience, their "re-establishment powers" after a "catastrophy" should not be taken for granted. So protection and conservation work, especially for more fragile species like _C. elliptica_, is still of utmost importance.


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## Yoong (Nov 26, 2007)

corymad said:


> yeah, some _Cryptocoryne_ species have rhizomes and underground runners which dig so deep into the substrate that allows them to survive unscathed after temporal acts of devastation e.g. deforestation, foliage melting due to sudden changes in water parameters arising from pollution, and even brief peat swamp fires. Given appropriate conditions, they may have the ability to recolonise a seemingly destroy locality. That's why crypts are an interesting group which continue to baffle and fascinate many of us time to time again.
> 
> But despite their resilience, their "re-establishment powers" after a "catastrophy" should not be taken for granted. So protection and conservation work, especially for more fragile species like _C. elliptica_, is still of utmost importance.


I totally agree with you. Minima seem to be more robust and hence survive the ordeal better. Regarding elliptica, I find its mode of propagation interesting. Off course being able to reproduce through dropped leaf does give it an survival advantage in the wild . However, that doesn't work during deforestation. The plantlet from the leaf grow very slowly and they are very fragile. I don't think the drop leaf nor the planlet will survive the deforestation.

My experience with elliptical is they drop thier leaf with minimal handling. I also noted that they have rizhome. That meant they might be able to reproduce in two ways. I have managed to get plantlets from dropped leaves, however I am yet to see it reproduce via rizhome. maybe someone else have the experience to confirm that. I tried to moved one of the plantlet when it was 2.5 cm(because it is in minima's pot), the planlet died on me. The mother plant arrived in bad condition and died too. I have got more elliptica now but am very careful in handling them. They are just sensitive plant.

Sorry it is a bit out of topic but I just find elliptica fascinating.

Yoong


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## corymad (Apr 14, 2008)

About _C. elliptica_, I visited the location at Redang Panjang last year and found that it had been devastated. 

but Mike managed to uncover another small population "somewhere in Perak and Kedah". it's a very small population of barely a few dozen plants but alas, at least we know that it's still out there hanging on! And that is a comforting thought, duncha think?


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Like growing old, it certainly beats the alternative.


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Hello Yoong,



> My experience with elliptical is they drop thier leaf with minimal handling.


Yes, the leaf attachment is quite brittle, especially with mature leaves. Younger leaves are tougher - a good plant just doesn't fall apart if you handle it.



> I also noted that they have rizhome. That meant they might be able to reproduce in two ways. I have managed to get plantlets from dropped leaves, however I am yet to see it reproduce via rizhome.


I'd be eager to hear what you mean with rhizomes? Yes, I've had growing rhizomes develop into 2 growing points which divided into daughter plants later on (takes a while  ). However, I've never heard of elliptica being able to produce runners (at least the strain we've had for years in Europe).



> I tried to moved one of the plantlet when it was 2.5 cm(because it is in minima's pot), the planlet died on me. The mother plant arrived in bad condition and died too. I have got more elliptica now but am very careful in handling them. They are just sensitive plant.


With me this species doesn't seem to be especially fragile. Tiny plants can take a long time to grow into mature plants but those plantlets with a good start (old leaf stays intact for months) can grow very fast. I also didn't noticed higher mortality after replanting or even shipping.


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## Yoong (Nov 26, 2007)

Kai,
Yes, the leaf attachment is quite brittle, especially with mature leaves. Younger leaves are tougher - a good plant just doesn't fall apart if you handle it.

I agree with you that younger leaves are tougher. As for the older plant, I had plant that drop most of its leaves on transportation.

I'd be eager to hear what you mean with rhizomes? Yes, I've had growing rhizomes develop into 2 growing points which divided into daughter plants later on (takes a while  ). However, I've never heard of elliptica being able to produce runners (at least the strain we've had for years in Europe).

I didn't see fat rhizomes but have seen plants that are interconnected with thin roots. I suppose they cannot be call rhizome. In the wild, I believe the main mode of propagation is still by regrowing from leaves. As you can see in the attached picture, although it might looks like there is only two plants, in fact the"two plants" are each made of multiple plantlets. I suspected the leaf droped from the mother plant at small plantlet grows from thes dropped leaf.

With me this species doesn't seem to be especially fragile. Tiny plants can take a long time to grow into mature plants but those plantlets with a good start (old leaf stays intact for months) can grow very fast. I also didn't noticed higher mortality after replanting or even shipping.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunaely my plantlets grow very slowly. May be the condition is not optimal and hence is not growing as well as yours.


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