Cryptocoryne ´purpurea Ridley nothovar. purpurea
According to the famous H.N. Ridley (1904), a former director of the Botanical Garden
of Singapore, this is the most easy to cultivate Cryptocoryne! Also de Wit
(1964) states that Cryptocoryne purpurea is the most common aquarium plant in
both Europe and America. Times have changed. Today there is hardly any C. purpurea
left in the hobby of growing Crypts.
The plant grows in W. Malaysia, there are still plants around the type locality near Kota
Tingii, but the best known locality today is the Tasek (= lake) Bera in W. Malaysia
(Furtado & Mori 1982; Sim 2002) . The plant is regarded as a hybrid between C. griffithii and C.
cordata var. cordata (Jacobsen 1982). In 2002, Jacobsen et al. described
another hybrid from Kalimantan: C. ´purpurea
nothovar. borneoensis, which is regarded as a hybrid between C. griffithii (from Kalimantan!) and C. cordata var. zonata.
Click on the picture to get the full image (ca 50 k)
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| A recent, by Sasaki collected Cryptocoryne ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea from Kota Tingii. It
has been unknown for a long time that the plants were still there. No collection photo Sasaki |
The TYPE specimen of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea as collected by H.N.
Ridley in 1892 near Kota Tingii (Johore, W. Malaysia). Coll. Ridley 4214 herbarium Singapore |
Ridley's plant was brought to Kew Gardens (UK) where it flowered easily (!). The plant on this beautiful aquarel (Hooker 1900) was erroneous named C. griffithii, which caused a lot of confusion. | Probably most cultivated plants of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea today come from the
Tasek Bera Reserve, where it grows with C. cordata var. cordata. This
aquarel is in Sim (2000). aquarel by Wong Swee Fatt |
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| In 1985, Jacobsen and Bogner visited Tasek Bera,
an enormous swamp area in Pahang. where they found C. ´purpurea
nothovar. purpurea. Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-21 photo Jacobsen |
Flowering specimen of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea from Tasek Bera. Note
the more or less yellowish zone just above the tube (the throat). A distinct collar fails. Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-21 photo Jacobsen |
From the same locality, C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea with a more purple
colored throat. The limb of the spathe is freshly opened and not yet fully spread. Coll. Bogner 1722 photo Bogner |
Cultivated specimen of the 1985 plant from Tasek
Bera. The limb of the spathe is purple to red, rough. The throat is broad and smooth,
often more or less yellowish. The tube isn't fused perfect. Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-21 photo Bastmeijer |
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| C. ´purpurea
nothovar. purpurea growing in the Tasek Bera swamp. Coll. Sim s.n. photo Sim |
Mixed with Blyxa sp. grows C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea abundantly. Coll. Sim s.n. photo Sim |
A close up of the locality (left picture). Note
the yellowish throat of the limb. Coll. Sim s.n. photo Sim |
The Tasek Bera swamps in the Pahang state (W.
Malaysia). See the map below. photo Sim |
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| A historical photograph of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea, made in 1958! Note
that the plant grows and flowers submersed in an aquarium. Unknown locality photo van Bruggen |
Another submersed grown C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea. Note the more
brownish leaves and the more reddish throat of the limb. This picture is made also in the
50's. Unknown locality photo Vlasblom |
When the spathe matures after a couple of days,
the margins of the limb of the spathe fold down. This picture is also from the mid of the
last century. Unknown locality photo Blass |
Again an old picture of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea. Note the marmorated
leaves with the pale veins. The limb of the spathe is remarkable dark. Unknown locality photo Möhlmann |
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| C. ´purpurea
nothovar. purpurea cultivated on a simple mixture of only gravel and peat litter
with a weekly doses of a diluted fertilizer. Note the dark stripes (marmorated) on the
leaves. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 14) photo Bastmeijer |
Mostly C. ´purpurea
nothovar. purpurea has a a yellow throat, but the are uniform red plants
('concolor'). Note the irregular, warty structure of the limb and the smooth surface of
the throat. No collar present. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 14) photo Bastmeijer |
Again a very old collection of unknown origin of
C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea,
grown at the Botanical Garden in Copenhagen since 1912. The plants have been placed in
shallow water. Unknown locality (1671/2) but they originate from the Botanical Garden in Dresden, and no doubt come from Ridley's original plants that were sent live to Kew. photo Jacobsen |
There is sometimes a discussion for how
much Cryptocoryne can adapt the length of the tube according to the water level.
This one does well in the botanical.garden of Copenhagen. Unknown locality (1671/2) photo Jacobsen |
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| This specimen has quite bright green leaves. In
emersed culture the size of the plant will not be bigger as shown here (pot size 9 cm),
but in submersed culture the leaves may grow much taller. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 700) photo Bastmeijer |
Close up of the limb of the spathe. There is no
distinct collar (rim) but the funnel shaped throat may be a bit swollen like in C.
cordata. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 700) photo Bastmeijer |
Again a somewhat deviating form, to be regarded
as C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea.
The whole limb of the spathe is more or less orange. Note the short tube. Unknown locality (Wijngaarden 80) photo van Wijngaarden |
Detail of the same plant as left. Note the fine
reddish spots at the opening of the tube (inside). Unknown locality (Wijngaarden 80) photo van Bruggen |
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| A deviating color of the limb of the spathe of C.
´purpurea. The warty surface of the limb makes
it different from C. cordata. Unknown locality (NJ 3207) photo Jacobsen |
A bronze leafed C. ´purpurea.
In cultivation, plants may react strongly at the environmental factors, such as light. Unknown locality (Wijngaarden 49) photo van Wijngaarden |
A dirty yellow limb of the spathe of C. ´purpurea. This one is quite close to C. cordata,
but differs in the structure of the limb. Unknown locality (Wijngaarden 49) photo van Wijngaarden |
Close up of the limb of the plant at left. Note
the fine red spots at the transition of the tube to the throat. The limb is hardly warty. Unknown locality (Wijngaarden 49) photo Bastmeijer |
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| Opened kettle of C. ´purpurea
nothovar. purpurea. The most distinguishing characters are the brownish outside
color of the ovaries and the broad stigma's. The length of the naked part of the spadix
mostly is not a good character. Note the yellow valve at the top of the picture. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 700) photo Bastmeijer |
Another section of the broadened lower part of
the tube (kettle). Spadix (the 'rod') rather short, the flap is whitish and the stigma's
rounded. The brownish tinge on the top of the female flowers (lower part) seems to
be typical. Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-21 photo Bastmeijer |
Typical incised stigma's of C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea. This is not always
seen. Note the 'snowflake' like structure of the stigma's, typical for a fresh opened
spathe. After one day the stigma's become translucent (very left picture). Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 14) photo Bastmeijer |
A longitudinal cut through the female flowers of
C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea. Lots
of ovules, which could become seeds after pollinating. However, fruits are not known,
indicating a hybrid origin of this species. Unknown locality (Bastmeijer 14) photo Bastmeijer |
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| The C. ´purpurea nothovar. borneoensis from
Kalimantan (Indonesia) is characterized with a rough limb, a distinct collar and has a
deep red color of the limb. Coll. Sasaki SP2 Photo Sasaki |
After having cleared up the identity, de Wit
(1960, 1990) published this splendid drawing of C. purpurea var. purpurea
drawing Ike Zewald |
Map of the Tasek Bera swamps. C. ´purpurea nothovar. purpurea grows at several spots in this area. Also C. cordata var. cordata is found at Tasek Bera (Sim 2002). | Distribution of C. ´purpurea var. purpurea in West Malaysia. The upper locality is the Tasek Bera National Park. The lower locality is Kota Tingii, where the type was collected by Ridley. |
From its very description by Ridley, there has always been a lot of confusion about its
identity. Though Ridley was very aware of that, as was Engler (1920), it was not until
1960 that de Wit (see also de Wit 1990) gave a comprehensive explanation of the
differences between C. griffithii, C. cordata var. cordata and C.
´purpurea nothovar. purpurea. Jacobsen
(1982) regards it as a natural hybrid between C. cordata
var. cordata and C. griffithii. Today,
more variation in color of the limb of the spathe is encountered. All these plants are
from undocumented origin. Newly,Yuji Sasaki from Japan collected plants from South
Kalimantan (Indonesia) which are described as C. ´purpurea nothovar. borneoensis (Jacobsen et
al. 2002).
Today, the Wetlands International Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society are involved
with the conservation of the Tasek Bera National Park. There are a lot of very interesting
weblinks to that area, see for example:
http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/asi/asi-15.html
http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/dreams/198/tasik/mainpage.htm
http://www.wetlands.org/ap/wetmal.htm
http://www4.jaring.my/mns/
Jan D.Bastmeijer, updated January 2003
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