Cryptocoryne hybrids

Late 70's, Niels Jacobsen from the Botanical Institute of Copenhagen made a lot of artificial hybrids of - mainly - the popular Sri Lankean species. The main target of this work was to prove the hybrid nature of the well known aquarium C. ´willisii. But also other combinations were made, e.g. with C. nevillii, the remarkable, rare plant from the Batticaloa region. Even some 'suspected' plants were backcrossed to clear up their parentage. Today there are indications that a lot of (natural) Crypts are more or less 'mixtures'.
The pictures are shown with only their botanical status. For comparison, the 'originals' are shown (left column). The hybrid material is all lost / destroyed, so there is no chance to find these plants in the trade. See below for some explanation.

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

NATURE	ARTIFICIAL HYBRIDS
C. walkeri photo Bastmeijer	C. "23-7" ´ C. "23-7" photo Jacobsen	C. "23-7" ´ C. "23-7" photo Jacobsen	C. "23-7" ´ C. "23-7" photo Jacobsen
C. beckettii photo Bastmeijer	C. "23-7" ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen	C. "23-7" ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen	C. "23-7" ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen
C. parva photo Bastmeijer	C. wendtii ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen	C. beckettii ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen	C. beckettii ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen
C. ´willisii photo Bastmeijer	C. wendtii ´ C. parva photo Jacobsen	C. wendtii ´ C. walkeri photo Jacobsen	C. wendtii ´ C. walkeri photo Jacobsen
C. nevillii photo Bastmeijer	C. wendtii ´ C. nevillii photo Jacobsen	C. wendtii ´ C. nevillii photo Jacobsen	C. wendtii ´ C. nevillii photo Jacobsen
C. wendtii photo Bastmeijer	C. walkeri ´ C. nevillii photo Jacobsen	C. walkeri ´ C. nevillii (middle) photo Jacobsen	C. walkeri ´ C. nevillii photo Jacobsen

Backcrossing the natural hybrid C. "23-7" reveals that the offspring immediately split into the well known C. walkeri, C. beckettii and the original plant, the most simple Mendelean picture. So, this natural C. "23-7" plant can be interpreted as a hybrid between C. walkeri and C. beckettii.
When the C. "23-7" plant is crossed with C. parva you will get in the offspring the well known C. ´willisii including (syn.) C. lucens. Probably most crossings in which C. parva is involved will give 'look alike' plants.
Like C. parva, C. nevillii is probably a 'pure' species, and for that reason a preferable parent. Look at the marvelous crossings with the latter.

See the pages on the common Sri Lankean species for other deviating forms.

Jan D.Bastmeijer, 16 February 2001

Literature:
Jacobsen, N. 1981a. Cryptocoryne undulata Wendt und Bemerkungen zu anderen Arten. Aqua-Planta 6(2): 31-38.
Jacobsen, N. 1981b. Cryptocoryne undulata Wendt und Bemerkungen zu anderen Arten – Ein Nachtrag. Aqua-Planta 6(4): 92-94.