Cryptocoryne affinis Hooker f.

Cryptocoryne affinis is one of the 'classical' aquarium plants, first reports go back to 1939. In the 50s this plant grow enormous popular for aquarists under the name C. haerteliana. In the recent years different forms are imported. Some more brownish, others more bullated.
In recent years, Jacobsen and Bogner (1985) and Waser (1998) collected plants. May 1999, I visited the area as guest of Oriental Aquarium, Singapore.

^{Click on the picture to get the full image (ca 50 k)}

A submersed cultivated Cryptocoryne affinis. Recent imports show these rather bullate leaves. photo Möhlmann	In emersed culture, C. affinis stays very small. Leave blade ca 4 cm long. They are easy to grow in this way but they flower seldom. photo Möhlmann	A 'classical' C. affinis with almost smooth, tall, green leaves.The upper side of the leaves may be dark 'silky' green with a pale midrib, the lower side deep purple. photo Möhlmann	The spathe of a submersed grown C. affinis. This is rather rare but there are a few reports of hobbyists who had a flowering C. affinis. photo Möhlmann
A stream near Jerantut in Pahang State, W. Malaysia in September 1985. Note the very low water level. photo Jacobsen	C. affinis grows partly emersed on the banks. photo Jacobsen	The spathe of C. affinis with the typical spiraled limb of the spathe. photo Jacobsen	A specimen from deeper water with a much longer tube of the spathe. photo Jacobsen
Sungai Perdak is a ca. 10 m wide river, South of Bentang in Pahang State, West Malaysia. C. affinis grows on the bank May 1999 (see next picture for inset). photo Bastmeijer	You Teh Hon and Azmi Bin Sulaman from Oriental Aquarium (Sg) resting. Though the water level is rather low, the water is swift running. On the bank C. affinis grows partly emersed (see next picture for inset). photo Bastmeijer	The patch C. affinis consists of about a few hundred specimen (see next picture for inset). photo Bastmeijer	At this more or less sheltered spot C. affinis develops rather big leaves. See first picture on the next row. photo Bastmeijer
Plants from the bank grow merely in clay. The plants are very deep rooted, the white part of the petioles were below surface. photo Bastmeijer	Much more C. affinis is found in the riverbed where they grow fully exposed to the sun. They form dark flecks in the shallow, cloudy water. Here Azmi is collecting at a rapid. The very small specimens grow in dense mats together with some Hydrilla and Vallisneria. photo Bastmeijer	At this place C. affinis grows in deeper water on a gravel bottom in the Perdak river. Azmi stands in ca. 40 cm deep water. photo Bastmeijer	Known distribution of Cryptocoryne affinis. It is said that the more bullate specimens grow more North in Kelantan State.
Type material collected by father Scortechini (nr. 586b) around 1890 in the Larut river (Pahang State, W. Malaysia). Singapore Herbarium	The same collection as left. As Hooker (1893) states, leaf blades are at most 6 x 2.5 cm and are strongly bullate. Singapore Herbarium	When you see this herbarium sheet for the first time, you are amazed by the tiny C. affinis plants. Collection Nur 11902 (1924), Pahang State, near Bukit Jelatek, W. Malaysia. Singapore Herbarium	Line drawing of C. affinis in de Wit (1959, 1990). drawing Ike Zewald

Cryptocoryne affinis is an easy to cultivate plant, probably because it tolerates / prefers high calcium levels. In low light levels they develop dark green leaves with a silky glance and the lower side deep purple. The main vein is strikingly pale green. It flowers very seldom in culture, even emersed grown.
The more bullated specimens from imports from W. Malaysia in the 80s gave rise to some erroneous interpretations as "C.(pseudo-)bullosa".

Jan D. Bastmeijer, 1 July 1999

Literature.

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Jacobsen, N., 1986. Deterioration of the habitats of the Cryptocoryne species. Symp. Bedreiging van het aquatisch milieu, Ludwigia, Wageningen : 33. (the lecture on the botanical page of this site)
Jacobsen, N. & J.Bogner, 1987. Die Cryptocorynen der Malaiischen Halbinsel (2.Teil). Aqua-Planta 1-87 : 13-20.
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