Cryptocoryne decus-silvae de Wit
In 1971 Schulze collected a Cryptocoryne which turned out to be a new species. It is never found again and the problem is that nobody knows where it was collected. It should be W. Malaysia, but on the date of collecting the plant Schulze was not in that country, so something went wrong with the notebook (Jacobsen & Bogner 1987).
The plants were shipped to De Wit (Wageningen Agricultural University) and flowered once and after they disappeared. In 1976 it was described as Cryptocoryne decus-silvae ('beauty of the forest'). Zhou Hang visited the Ayer Hitam area from where Schulze got his plant in 2004 but could not bring it back. See a copy of his webreport. Thats all we know.

coll. Schulze s.n.
photo de Wit
coll. Schulze s.n.
hoto de Wit
coll. Schulze s.n.
photo de Wit
coll. Schulze s.n.
photo de Wit

       
coll. Schulze s.n.
photo de Wit

drawing Nic Nieuwenhuis & Juliet Williamson


       

In the description, De Wit gives some measures, leave 10 - 20 cm long and up to 6 cm wide, petiole 4 - 10 cm. Spathe 5 - 7 cm long. At Wageningen the plants were cultivated in a semi-emersed way (in very shallow water) and it may be assumed that in full submersed conditions the spathe will be much longer. Reversed, in emersed culture the whole plant could be much smaller. This holds for example for C. nurii.
It is uncertain if this species will be found again, for in W. Malaysia the lowland biotopes are severely threatened. On the other hand the distribution of Cryptocoryne in Malesia is still not fully researched.

Updated January 2016

Literature:

Jacobsen, N. & J.Bogner, 1987. Die Cryptocorynen der Malaiischen Halbinsel (4.Teil, Schluss). Aqua-Planta 3-87 : 96-103.
Wit, H.C.D.de, 1976. Drie nieuwe Cryptocroryne-soorten. Het Aquarium 46(7) : 177.
Wit, H.C.D.de, 1990. Aquarienpflanzen, 2. Auflage. Ulmer, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-8001-7185-6.
Zhou, H. 2004. Ayer Hitam Revenge. http://www.ikanpemburu.com/ [now vanished] view a copy of his webpage. (Document service)

 
 








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Richard J. Sexton