Cryptocoryne annamica

Cryptocoryne annamica Serebryanyi

Cryptocoryne annamica is collected by Orlow, a herpetologist from St. Petersburg university (that time Leningrad), in Central Vietnam in the region near Da Nang and Hue. Later he also collected a brown leaved C. vietnamensis in that area. When the plant flowered in Moscow, Serebryanyi recognized it as a new species (1991).

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Photo of the TYPE of C. annamica. The plant was collected by Orlow and grown in the Moscow Botanical Garden. photo Shelejkovsky	Again the TYPE specimen. The limb is a bit rough and has some denticulations on the edge. photo Shelejkovsky	The plant was collected again by Bogner and grown in the Munich Botanical Garden. The limb ends more or less with a tail. Note the bright green leaves. photo Bogner	A by Bednii cultivated specimen. Note the more spotted throat and the open seam of the tube photo Bednii


Another green leaved C. annamica. The limb of the spathe stands upright. The throat is even more spotted. photo van Wijngaarden	An amazing picture of C. annamica cultivated by Piet van Wijngaarden. The leaves are dark green and are slight bullated. photo van Wijngaarden	Even more astonishing is this plant of C. annamica. The lower side of the leaves are dark purple.No doubt it is the same C. annamica! photo van Wijngaarden	These plant are C. vietnamensis, collected by Josef Bogner. Left an emersed, right a submersed specimen. See the problem. photo Bogner


An unexpected behavior of C. annamica. This plant was treated with gibbelerine acid to induce flowering (I don't use that, I got the plant). This cataphyl has some resemblance to a spathe. photo Bastmeijer	The kettle of C. annamica shows the usual structure of a Cryptocoryne. No special remarks. photo van Wijngaarden	The famous herbarium sheet of Clemens from 1927. Serebryanyi assigns it to C. annamica, whether Hertel & Mühlberg do it to C. vietnamensis. The sheet has no inflorescences. herbarium Paris	Distribution of C. annamica in Central Vietnam, near Da Nong. C. vietnamensis grows in about the same area.

Cryptocoryne annamica is rather easy to grow. However, it don't propagate very fast and it flowers not so often. Probably it needs a lot of light. At 'normal' conditions the plant is quite like C. vietnamensis, though it has broader leaves, but C. annamica can develop unique purple lower sides of the leaves. It looks like a dense striped pattern and is not like the smooth purple lower sides that are common in Cryptocoryne.

The old herbarium sheet in Paris, a plant collected by Clemens in 1927 near Da Nang, is sterile. We will probably never know whether is C. annamica or C. vietnamensis.

Jan D. Bastmeijer, 1 August 2000