# Likelyhood that my c. wendtii var. green is not var. green?



## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

Last summer I bought some crypts Including a couple of pots of C. wendtii 'green' (BTW, after reading this post at the NACS forum should this be var. green or 'green'?) from a store which I don't really trust 100% with regards to plants (still trying to figure out if my wilissii is actually parva  )

I've started to sell runners of this plant and really want to make sure people know what they actually have. I only have emersed pictures right now (I'm out of town and can't take any pictures), most of which some of you may have seen at NACS but also a few different pictures.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if my specimens are within the typical variation for 'green' or if I have a different variety.

Some plants are mostly green (note the brown leaf and colour on the green leaves)










The stems have colour to them










As do the backs of the leaves especially - this is slightly more pronounced on the submersed specimens










Some are very dark though (with newer growth lighter) - also note the "spots" on the leaves, a feature that is a lot more prominent on submersed plants.










This is an older picture of a leaf from the brown plant above before it made the transition to emersed growth and is typical of my submersed specimens.










So... Can I call this plant 'green'?


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

If I recall correctly, in our visit to FAN, we saw piles of Wendtii green - and they were indeed - green. Not saying that your plant isnt wendtii green - it may very well be.
Diff growing conditions.
Grow it submersed - I've never seen wentii green be anything but submersed.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Are you using intense light?


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## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

No, I have around 2W/gal from two shoplights in a deep (20") tank for my submersed plants, and I think a 20W light for the emersed plants. Submersed I have play sand so nothing exciting there, emersed is flourite. The plants where green when I bought them but I have no idea how long they'd been in the store (under MH lighting). (Oh, and they were from Tropica, so they're a variety that they would be selling)


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Color descriptions of C. wendtii varieties are based on submersed growth, which is more likely to be brown than emersed growth. I currently have a large brown wendtii---brown when submersed---growing emersed, and it is plain green. Even the so called green wendtii is not all green when submersed.

I once bought an emersed wendtii that had small oval green leaves with pink petioles and mid vein, and, when I grew it submersed, it produced dark chocolate brown bullated leaves with red undersides.


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

I echo what Paul said above. I have about a half dozen varieties of wendtii growing both submerged and emersed. Submerged they are clearly different looking plants, short, tall, brown, green, etc. Emersed they all look the same. If I didn't have them labeled, I'd be hosed.

By the way, as far as naming (var. green or 'green') either way works. You may even see cv. green occasionally.

Horticultural nomenclature does have certain rules for naming plants. Cultivar is the "cultivated-variety" of a plant and is most frequently identified with single quotes ' '. Variety can be used but seems to be falling out of favor. Some old literature may also use cv. which was the old abbreviation for cultivated- variety.

Here's a link if you're interesed in reading more.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantnaming.asp#cultivars

Cheers.
Jim


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## fishfan (Feb 19, 2006)

I purchased a Crypt Wendtii 'Red' awhile ago and had wondered about color variation too as it arrived all green in color and thought they sent me the wrong plant. Perhaps it was grown emersed like mentioned above. It was too large for my aquarium so I cut all the leaves off at the base, planted it, and now it is growing the red colored leaves in my tank.


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## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

I bought another C. wendtii 'green' today (I actually thought I was getting a "assorted crypt" but this had a tag on it) so I'm going to see how it grows out and compare the two in the same conditions.


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## andrew__ (May 18, 2007)

I got a few pictures of my submersed plants while I was playing in my tank today 

These four pictures show the front and back of two leaves on one plant and are representative of all 5 plants I have submersed.

Leaf one:

















Leaf two:


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