Cryptocoryne albida Parker

Syn.: C. retrospiralis (Roxb.) Kunth ssp. albida (Parker) Rataj, C. costata Gagnepain, C. retrospiralis (Roxb.) Kunth var. costata (Gagnepain) De Wit, C. hansenii S.Y.Hu, C. korthausae Rataj.

Rhizome up to 0.8 cm thick. Stolons often with a metallic, blue-gray colour. Leaves lanceolate, green to brownish marbled, smooth (sometimes slightly undulate towards the margins), 10-30 cm long and 1-2 cm wide (Fig. 7 C, D); lamina with lateral veins; margin entire. Spathe 10-20 cm long; kettle 0.8-1.5 cm long; tube 5-15 cm long, slightly twisted; limb short, 1-2.5(-4) cm long, at anthesis sometimes more or less upright and spirally twisted, later becoming recurved (Fig. 9), colour grayish to cream, with reddish to brown, irregular to circular, elongate markings which sometimes may cover the surface completely; the markings may be missing. Female flowers 4-7 with more or less vertical, ovate stigmas. Olfactory bodies more or less rounded, often depressed in the centre, yellowish to greenish. Male flowers 80-120.

Chromosome number: 2n = 36.

Distribution: Southern Thailand and Burma (Fig. 6).

Habitat: At low elevations on sandy and stony banks of the rivers. Emersed when flowering (Fig. 8).

Nomenclatorial notes: The type specimens of C. albida, C. costata, C. hansenii, and C. korthausae are all so alike that it is not possible to find any differences between them: What has been called C. costata has a rather short, suddenly narrowed limb of the spathe, but can hardly be regarded even as a distinct form; cultivated type material of C. hansenii, grown in Copenhagen, proved inseparable from C. albida; type material of C. korthausae originated from the Botanical Garden in Munich, and this also proved indistinguishable from C. albida. Rataj (1975) distinguishes C. retrospiralis ssp. albida as different from both C. costata and C. korthausae, however, as all three are inseparable (and different from C. retrospiralis) there is no basis for maintaining them as separate.

Notes: The leaf-form in C. albida is rather constant; the colour varies from green to irregularly striped brown, marbled br own and almost evenly brown with some markings (Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 14, 15, 23, 24, 25). The species is distinguished by its short, more or less recurved limb of the spathe with the dilatated opening. The markings on the limb are brownish to reddish and their form varies from dots to irregular short line-like figures. The density of the markings as well as their size also varies and all transitions occur, from no dots at all to markings completely covering the limb. Also the length of the limb varies. It may be short, with only a very short appendage, or longer and twisted several times (Fig. 9). The total variation of the species does not exceed that found in the one locality at Ban Nang Yon, and it is not possible to distinguish between C. albida and C. costata as done by. e.g. De Wit (1971), Rataj (1975), and Jacobsen (1977).