# Cryptocoryne Sp. Affinis ID



## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

Hey everyone, I know it's a long shot but I was hoping to get some help in ID'ing this Cryptocoryne. I know it's difficult to ID without a spathe but from my knowledge it's very hard to get sp. affinis to flower.

Hopefully someone can help me ID it. This is emersed growth, when submersed it has green leaves with a pink underdone. 

Thanks,

K.G


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

It sure looks like affinis, but as you said it's not easy to say 100% without a spathe.

Welcome to APC too.


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## jem_xxiii (Apr 16, 2014)

new to crypts so i cannot be of much help, but just wanted to let you know that this crypt looks amazing. the only affinis i know of it 'pahang barat - red metallic'


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## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

AaronT said:


> It sure looks like affinis, but as you said it's not easy to say 100% without a spathe.
> 
> Welcome to APC too.


I know for sure it is Affinis I'm just trying to figure out whether this is C. haertliniana 'West Malaysia', Green Pink Rosanervig, Metallic Red Pahang Barat, Selangor, Gua Musang, or Pahang.

Thanks AaronT, I have heard many good things about you from my mentor here in Canada. I have been told to treat everything you say as if it were a biblical scripture :hail::hail: hahaha

K.G



jem_xxiii said:


> new to crypts so i cannot be of much help, but just wanted to let you know that this crypt looks amazing. the only affinis i know of it 'pahang barat - red metallic'


Thank you


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I have no idea which one of those it is. I can say at first glance it does not look like the Pahang Berat 'Metallic Red'. It's just so hard to say as everyone's different setups will show some variability even from the same plant. 

I think I know who your mentor must be.  Say hi for me.


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## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

AaronT said:


> I have no idea which one of those it is. I can say at first glance it does not look like the Pahang Berat 'Metallic Red'. It's just so hard to say as everyone's different setups will show some variability even from the same plant.
> 
> I think I know who your mentor must be.  Say hi for me.


Mm I understand what you're saying, I guess I'll just continue to wait for a spathe so it can be ID'd. I'll be sure to tell him hello next time we chat


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## saddletramp (Sep 16, 2012)

If your guru is the one I am thinking of in the Toronto area, tell him "hello" from me the next time you speak to him.

The most probable plant your "affinis" would be is 'Pahang Barat' Metallic Red. It is the most common possibility. It seems to grow profusely but flowers rarely.

Your specimen is outstanding, if that is what it is.

How did you acquire it without proper labeling? Now you must wait for a flower. By the way, the flower is spectacular - looks like the Space Needle!!!

Bill


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## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

saddletramp said:


> If your guru is the one I am thinking of in the Toronto area, tell him "hello" from me the next time you speak to him.
> 
> The most probable plant your "affinis" would be is 'Pahang Barat' Metallic Red. It is the most common possibility. It seems to grow profusely but flowers rarely.
> 
> ...


I'm sure it's the same guy since he also recommended I value your opinion on Crypt's , I'll be sure to tell him "Hello" for you.

If this affinis does turn out to be 'Pahang Barat' Metallic Red, I would be quite happy! I originally got it from the first auction I ever went to and it was just labelled as "Cryptocoryne Sp. Affinis". This purchase was before I knew to only purchase Cryptocoryne's with location and ID. I've easily collected well over 10 runners from this plant & it seems to reproduce quite quickly, just for whatever reason I cannot get it to flower


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

TorontoPlantMan said:


> I'm sure it's the same guy since he also recommended I value your opinion on Crypt's , I'll be sure to tell him "Hello" for you.
> 
> If this affinis does turn out to be 'Pahang Barat' Metallic Red, I would be quite happy! I originally got it from the first auction I ever went to and it was just labelled as "Cryptocoryne Sp. Affinis". This purchase was before I knew to only purchase Cryptocoryne's with location and ID. I've easily collected well over 10 runners from this plant & it seems to reproduce quite quickly, just for whatever reason I cannot get it to flower


As saddletramp said, affinis is not easy to flower emersed. It seems to flower rather easily submersed though. If you have so many then you have enough to experiment. Have you tried partial submersion? i.e. bringing the water level up over the crown of the plant by an inch or so.


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## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

AaronT said:


> As saddletramp said, affinis is not easy to flower emersed. It seems to flower rather easily submersed though. If you have so many then you have enough to experiment. Have you tried partial submersion? i.e. bringing the water level up over the crown of the plant by an inch or so.


I have many fully submersed specimens but none that are partial. In one of my emersed tanks I will raise the water level gradually over this weekend/next week until the plants are an inch or two submersed like you suggested. I've never had any of my crypt's flower before so at this point I'm thinking they are all hard to flower lol.


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## illustrator (Jul 18, 2010)

I have an aquarium full of C. affinis for some years now, but had only twice one flowering. I tried to repeat what I did (soil and so on) but it didn't help. Online you can find photo's from fully submersed affinis which are flowering in nature. I suspect that these are in a different kind of substrate from what we use, something like clay with leaves mixed in (if you try that at home you have a good chance to end up with very smelly rotting mud) and they are in fast flowing water. 

I think that the only way to identify a clone with a reasonable certainty is to grow it side by side with a plant-from-known-origin. If they are looking exactly the same (and stay looking the same in a year or so), you have a good chance that are really the same. But after all that efford you could have grown the plant-from-known-origin from the start . I have currently 7 different varieties of C. affinis. I onbtained several more, but these appeared to be identical to one or another of these 7 after I grew them for a while. 

In the past I had the old clone for at least a decade and I vaguely remember it flowering ... only once. Again, no clue why only once.


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## TorontoPlantMan (May 11, 2014)

illustrator said:


> I have an aquarium full of C. affinis for some years now, but had only twice one flowering. I tried to repeat what I did (soil and so on) but it didn't help. Online you can find photo's from fully submersed affinis which are flowering in nature. I suspect that these are in a different kind of substrate from what we use, something like clay with leaves mixed in (if you try that at home you have a good chance to end up with very smelly rotting mud) and they are in fast flowing water.
> 
> I think that the only way to identify a clone with a reasonable certainty is to grow it side by side with a plant-from-known-origin. If they are looking exactly the same (and stay looking the same in a year or so), you have a good chance that are really the same. But after all that efford you could have grown the plant-from-known-origin from the start . I have currently 7 different varieties of C. affinis. I onbtained several more, but these appeared to be identical to one or another of these 7 after I grew them for a while.
> 
> In the past I had the old clone for at least a decade and I vaguely remember it flowering ... only once. Again, no clue why only once.


I'd love to see your aquarium full of affinis, do you have any photos?

Also do you know which "7 different varieties of C.affinis" you have? From my research I've only been able to break down the C. Affinis category into this:

1. Cryptocoryne affinis (AKA C. haertliniana)	West Malaysia 
2. Cryptocoryne affinis 'green pink rosanervig'	
3. Cryptocoryne affinis metallic red Pahang Barat
4. Cryptocoryne affinis Selangor
5. Cryptocoryne affinis	Gua Musang
6. Cryptocoryne affinis Pahang

I'm curious to see what other locations I'm missing from the list.


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## ts168 (Apr 13, 2004)

I feel that to categories C. affinis base on location is going to be a big problem.

If you want to properly tag them? Go like this which we are doing here.

example:
C. affinis "red form" another trade name given is C. affinis " metallic red" it collected from pahang.
C. affinis "mini" or C. affinis "Milky Water" also from pahang.
C. affinis "rosa" also from pahang.

There could be afew more variant. Do not forget the lab variant.
location is good to know where it is collected but it can deviate by seller who want to give different variant to sell.
describe it by it look in emmer and submerse form. 
Just my 2cent thou. But it up to anyone to use their own grouping since it all still fall under the C. affinis.

http://otsplant.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/crypt-affins-mini/
this one in emmerse form it can be light green or brownish depend on condition. But in submerse form it can be reddish brown with line or greenish. But it one of the smallest size C.affinis irregardless of emmerse or submerse.


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