Cryptocoryne sivadasanii Bogner

Live plants, collected in 1981 by Sivadasan in Kerala state, India, were first regarded as C. consobrina Schott. Bogner was for many years intrigued by this plant and studied the type material again and found that this plant is a new species: C. sivadasanii. A striking difference is the way of living of both species. While C. consobrina is known (at that time) only from the herbarium with fully developed leaves and inflorescense, C. sivadasanii is a seasonal plant which flowers after the wet season when the waterlevel getting low and the stream is starting to dry out and the leaves are fully withered. Also the limb of the spathe is less rough compared to C. consobrina.

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

Cryptocoryne sivadasanii in a stream in Kerala. photo te Beest	Leaves can reach up to more than 1 meter. Note that the plants grows deep in the ground (white parts). photo te Beest	A stream with an abundant growth of long leafed C. sivadasanii. photo Bogner	A very wealthy grown C. sivadasanii. A typical feature is that broken off roots can develop new plantlets (Jacobsen et al, 1989). photo Bogner
The spathes emerging out of the ground. Note the twisted limb. photo Sivadasan	At the start of the dry season, the emersed plants flower, the leaves drying out photo Sivadasan	A flowering C. sivadasanii. The inside limb is yellowish with purple warts. The leaves are almost without a leave blade. photo Sivadasan	Leaves are  very narrow and hardly have an undulated margin. photo Bogner
The narrow leaved C. sivadasanii in an aquarium (the plants in front are C. spiralis). photo Möhlmann	View from top of the aquarium. The narrow floating leaves belong to C. sivadasanii. photo Möhlmann	Drawing of the type of C. sivadasanii drawing Sajeev	Distribution of C. sivadasanii in south west India.

C. sivadasanii is not a good aquarium plant for it is a seasonal plant, having a rest period in the dry season. 
See also C. consobrina.

Jan D.Bastmeijer, updated December 2004

Literature:
Beest, M. te, 1998. A taxonomic study of the genus Cryptocoryne (Araceae) of South India. Calicut Universtity.
Bogner, J., 2004. Cryptocoryne sivadasanii (Araceae), a new species from India. Willdenowia 34: 195-201.
Jacobsen, N., M.Sivadasan & J.Bogner, 1989. Ungewöhnliche vegetative Vermehrung bei der Gattung Cryptocoryne (Teil 1). Aqua-Planta 3-89 : 83-88.
Jacobsen, N., M.Sivadasan & J.Bogner, 1989. Ungewöhnliche vegetatieve Vermehrung bei der Gattung Cryptocoryne (Teil 2). Aqua-Planta 4-89 : 127-132.
Sivadasan, M., 1985. Cryptocoryne consobrina, eine seltene Art aus Südindien. Aqua-Planta 2-85 : 3-5.