Cryptocoryne bangkaensis Bastmeijer

Cryptocoryne bangkaensis is known from Sumatra: the South Sumatra province and the islands Bangka and Belitung. On Bangka it grows on some places together with C. longicauda Engler. From Belitung also C. fusca De Wit is known. The South Sumatra province is hardly investigated in respect for Cryptocoryne- if still possible.
C. bangkaensis is characterized by its limb with a more or less bumped surface with only protuberances on the margin of the limb, a narrow throat and a pronounced collar. The limb is mostly recurved and not fully flattened and is finely dotted. There is a some variation in the colour of the limb.

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

The first picture of Cryptocoryne bangkaensis, cultivated by Blass in 1959. unknown locality, cult. Blass s.n. photo Blass	Because of the narrowed collar, the upper part of the tube looks more or less bulgy. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-3 photo Bastmeijer	A bud and a developing fruit in C. bangkaensis. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo Bastmeijer	Fredi Waser from Switzerland found C. bangkaensis mixed with C. longicauda (foreground). Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 (type locality) photo Waser
An emerged, under artificial light, cultivated specimen of C. bangkaensis. The leaves are ovate and smooth ... unknown locality, cult. Ansink 35 = bast 395 photo Bastmeijer	... but may be cordate and bullate under submerged/daylight conditions. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 (type locality) photo Jacobsen	Bronze leaves with a reddish lower side ... Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo van Wijngaarden	... to brownish leaves. Bangka, coll. Sasaki I-BASJ1 photo Jacobsen
Variations in the limb
Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-3 photo Bastmeijer	Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo Bastmeijer	Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo Bastmeijer	Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 photo Bastmeijer
Belitung, coll. Sasaki I-BEAM-B photo Jacobsen	Belitung, coll. Sasaki I-BEKB photo Bastmeijer	Belitung, coll. Sasaki I-BEPP photo Bastmeijer	unknown locality, Ansink 35 = bast 395 photo Bastmeijer
A picture from the locality in Bangka. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-4 photo Waser	A length cut of the whole spathe of C. bangkaensis. The tube inside varies in colour from white to deep purple. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-4 photo Jacobsen	A length cut through the limb. Note the narrow collar. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 photo Bastmeijer	Preserved in alcohol, the spathe looses all colour. After a short period of drying, the structure of the surface is clearly visible. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 photo Bastmeijer
Variations in the kettle of C. bangkaensis. The kettle wall varies in colour from white to dark red. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo Bastmeijer	The stigma's may be ovate, elliptic to more or less triangular. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-5 photo Bastmeijer	Appendix from white to purple Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 photo Bastmeijer	Flap over the male flowers from white to yellowish. Belitung, coll. Sasaki I-BEPP photo Bastmeijer
Herbarium sheet of C. bangkaensis collected by Schulze in 1970, with a nice photograph of the limb of the spathe (WAG). South Sumatra prov., coll. Schulze 665 photo Jacobsen	The holotype of C. bangkaensis, bast 857 (L), cultivated from a by Waser collected plant. Bangka, coll. Waser 2001-9 photo Bastmeijer	On the plate in deWit (1962, 1990) of C. scurrilis, figures 4 and 5 are made from Blass' plant and actually refer to C. bangkaensis. drawing Ike Zewald	Distribution of C. bangkaensis on Sumatra (Indonesia). Plants from the South Sumatra province (Schulze's locality) were never in cultivation.

C. bangkaensis is only in 2007 recognized as a new species and was up to that time regarded as C. scurrilis De Wit (1962, 1990). Thanks to the collections of Waser (CH) and Sasaki (JP), who made an exhaustive search on the islands,  the species was much better understood and it was clear that the spathe did not match figure 3 in the plate from de Wit's description. Read the article by Bastmeijer & Jacobsen (2007) in the Document service.

C.bangkaensis is not easy to grow in a normal aquarium. It grows well in an more or less acid soil of for example beech tree litter.

Jan D.Bastmeijer, May 2007

Literature:

Arends, J.C., J.D. Bastmeijer. & N. Jacobsen, 1982, Chromosome numbers and taxonomy in Cryptocoryne (Araceae).II. Nord.J.Bot. 2 : 453-463.
Bastmeijer, J.D., 1989, Cryptocoryne scurrilis De Wit, Aqua-Planta 1-89 : 3-5.
Bastmeijer, J.D. & N. Jacobsen, 2007, Cryptocoryne bangkaensis Bastmeijer, ein neuer Name für eine gut bekannte Cryptocoryne von Sumatra (Indonesien). Aqua-Planta 32(2): 41, 44-55.
Jacobsen, N., 1982, Cryptocorynen, Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.
Kasselmann, C., 1995, Aquarienpflanzen, Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Möhlmann, F., 1993, Ein wenig bekannter Wasserkelch: Cryptocoryne scurrilis De Wit. Aquarium Heute 2-93 : 290-291.
Rataj, K., 1975, Revision of the genus Cryptocoryne Fischer, Studie CSAV, c.3.Praha.
Rataj, K. & T.J. Horeman, 1977, Aquarium Plants, TFH Publ, USA.
Roe, C.D., 1967, A manual of aquarium plants, Shirley aquatics Ltd.
Sasaki, Y., 2003. Cryptocoryne Centre Circle. Minima 3: 14-35.
Wit, H.C.D.de, 1962, Nieuwe waterplanten, Meded.Bot tuinen en het Belmonte arboretum WAG Vol VI-4 : 92-98.
Wit, H.C.D.de, 1990, Aquarienpflanzen, 2. Auflage, Ulmer, Stuttgart.