# Alien among the Crypts



## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Any idea what's this? I am not aware of Cryptocoryne wendtii produces flower that looks like this. 

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquarium-pictures/showimage.php?i=7581&c=11

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquarium-pictures/showimage.php?i=7580&c=11


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi totziens,

It certainly does not look like any C. wendtii flower I have ever seen or had.

Possibly Ghazanfar, an APC member will spot your post and provide his input. He knows his crypts and their flowers very well.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

The Crypt wendtii could be a misidentification. All the while I thought it was a C. wendtii because it's the most common Crypt (my friends thought they're C. wendtii too). I purchased it dirt cheap but unlabeled from Aquafair held in Kuala Lumpur years ago - they are the leftover plants not used by Amano for his aquascaping demo. So, you can say this is a reject from Amano 


Thanks, Seattle_Aquarist.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Crypt. infloureescence are spathes. Maybe this is coming from something else.

http://crypts.aquaria.net/docs/Jacobsen/1991/chapters/Inflorescence/


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Is there another plants or weeds in the same pot? The picture is not very clear, maybe it would be better to have a closer one of the "thing", but it reminds me more or less to an open cryptocoryne "fruit" (the result of an pollinated spathe), but before that I guess that you had to be seen a common crypt spathe there.

Best regards,


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Crypt spathe is very commonly seen among my emersed crypts. Yes, I saw crypt spathe from these Crypts before. As far as I know, there is no other plants in this container (it's a huge mineral water container from Tesco cut to grow Crypts). Based on what I have googled so far, I suspect it's some kind of seeds from Crypts. From Google, I found a photo of another species of Crypt growing something star shaped in a larger form (it's a larger species of Crypt, so larger seeds). The owner actually cut the seeds for propagation. 

I cannot shoot the photo again as the "star" shaped thing has disintegrated. It lasted for about 3 days before disintegrating. Even though the photos are not that clear, I believe they're good enough to get them identified.

I believe it is a part of the Crypts as the "stem" of the "alien" was attached to the Crypt. So, it's not that alien after all. If it's an alien plant, I think it should not be disintegrating within 3 days.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Just received a confirmation from a friend that this is indeed the seeds of the Crypt.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

Compare with Ghazanfar's pics: http://kryptokoryne.aquaticscape.com/2009/01/26/cryptocoryne-nurii-seeds/
The capsule-like fruit develops from a small number of female flowers sitting in a circle around the lower part of the spadix. It looks star-shaped when fully opened. The open capsule of the ?wendtii has already scattered the seeds.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

p.s.
The spathe is only one part of the inflorescence of the Crypts (and other aroids). It's the specialized leaf that surrounds the spadix, the part of the inflorescence with the actual flowers.
In Cryptocoryne, the spathe is shed from the spadix before the fruit capsule is developed.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Thanks for the information, miremonster. Very informative indeed. 

Yesterday, I got another bunch of unknown Crypts from a friend who tore down her tank. The leaves are red and very nice. When I can find some time to shoot a photo, I'll post it in another thread for identification.

Surprisingly, Cryptocoryne nurii which could be found in the wild in my country (I saw some photos taken by friends), I have never seen one in any LFS or in real life.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Looks like you have seeds! How exciting!


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

totziens said:


> Surprisingly, Cryptocoryne nurii which could be found in the wild in my country (I saw some photos taken by friends), I have never seen one in any LFS or in real life.


Also in Europe it's kept by rather few specialized hobbyists and is hardly available. Although there are apparently at least few strains that make good aquarium plants. I've heard of an unusual hard water C. nurii population from Raub Utara, occurring in the same habitat as C. affinis.
http://cryptoandbetta.blogspot.de/2011/03/c-nurii-luminous-green-raub-utar-bloom.html


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Raub Utara. That's in my country, Malaysia. Heard of a species of C. nurii named after the state Pahang. Raub is town/district in Pahang. Heard of people finding C. nurii in Borneo too if I remember correctly.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Got another set of seeds from a different crypt. This time it's from emersed green gecko. I was told it's green gecko but it does not look like what I normally see in this forum. Even when it was submerged, it looked different.


__
https://flic.kr/p/8114644111


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https://flic.kr/p/8114644035


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## toksyn (Dec 26, 2011)

Congratulations on the seeds! I had a Cryptocoryne striolata 'Lundu' set seed in one of my aquariums before, and some of the seeds germinated. Unfortunately, my amanos were hellbent on uprooted the seedlings and devouring some of them, then I lost every Cryptocoryne in that aquarium when I moved.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Sorry to hear that. I have lost my crypts to my fish too but I am slowly trying to cultivate them again. I collected the seeds but found nothing growing out of them


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