Cryptocoryne Articles
by Richard Sexton

WEN (red) outdoor, 2001;	SIA "blassii"(?) 2005	UST (Morco) 2007
Plants, photos by author

beech Beech leaf mould For years even the experts could not grow the acid loving peat bog Crypts but with the accidental discovery of using beech leaf litter this is no longer a problem and few if any species fail to respond. But why does this work? If we know that we can answer the question "what else will work?". crypts intro Introduction to Genus Cryptocoryne Originally published in the February 2004 issue of TFH. cultivation How to grow and propagate Cyrpts. Originally published in the March 2004 issue of TFH. flat Why Crypt. leaves lie flat "C. minima cultivated by Gasser as C. gasseri. Note the striking red lower side of the leaf. The plants have their leaves depressed to the ground, the mechanism for that isn't quite good understood yet. locality unknown." - Jan B. photo: Gasser genetics Genetics and evolution Chromosome counts in Cryptocoryne range from 10 to 105; this is a very wide range and is somewhat unusual. Many (most?) species have 2n=34. How did Crypts evolve, and when? grandis The Giant Red Crypt Addenda Recent developments Part 1 History Part 2 Care Timeline Summary of milestones In the 1950's a Crypt was exported from Indonesian Borneo that looked like C. cordata but we two feet tall. The plant has been maintained in Germany and Canada continuously since then and a plant was in 2010 photographed in Indonesian Borneo that appears to be the same plant. Even more recently a photo of a flower of these was published and it conforms more to C. cordata cordata negating the idea that only C. codata graboswki is found there. This appears to be a distinct form of Cordata (although much more evidence is required to confirm that) and it is hoped the name "gradis" can be associated with the plant for historical reasons also because the plant is so big! "grandis" is Latin for "magnificent" which aptly describes this indeed magnificent plant.

list List of species/codes Tentative list of all known Cryptocorynes; introduction to J.J. Sheel's species-codes. Originally published in the May 2004 issue of TFH. polymorphism red Red in plants Why plants are red (or brown or some other color) instead of green sometimes and how to make plants more or less green or red. research Things we need to look at still Future avenues of research. wet giants In a word, no. The giant crypts don't do well emersed. For a reason.