Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 220 > Araceae > Cryptocoryne

2. Cryptocoryne albida R.Parker

Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew, 1931: 44. 1931; Jacobsen, Misc. Pap. Landbouwhogeschool, Wageningen, 192. 1980; Jacobsen, Aqua Planta 16(1): 19. 1991; de Wit, Aquarienpflanzen (2 ed.), 155. 1990.— Cryptocoryne retrospiralis ssp. albida (R.Parker) Rataj, Revision of the Genus Cryptocoryne Fischer, Stud. Ceskoslov. Akad. Ved., č. 3, 46. 1975. Plate XLVI.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Rhizome to 1 cm thick. Stolons often with a metallic, blue-grey colour. Leaves green to brownish marbled, smooth (sometimes slightly undulate towards the margins); leaf blade lanceolate, 10–30 by 1–2 cm, with lateral veins, margin entire; spathe 10–20 cm long; kettle 0.8–1.5 cm long, more or less reddish inside and with alveoli in the upper part; tube 5–15 cm long, slightly twisted; limb short, 1–2.5 (–4) cm long, sometimes more or less upright and spirally twisted at anthesis, later becoming recurved, greyish to cream, with reddish to brown irregular to circular or elongate markings which may sometimes cover the surface completely, the markings may also be missing; collar absent; pistillate flowers 4–7; stigma more or less vertical, ovate; olfactory bodies more or less rounded, often depressed in the centre, yellowish to greenish; staminate flowers 80–120. Infructescence white to greenish to purplish, elongate globular, 1–1.5 cm long, surface smooth. Seeds brownish, rugose, 5–8 mm long; endosperm present, embryo cone-shaped with an undifferentiated plumula. Chromosome number: 2n = 36.

Thailand : SOUTH-WESTERN: Prachuap Khiri Khan; PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Ranong (type of Cryptocoryne costata: Kerr 16385, holotype -BK, isotypes -K P [drawing]; type of C. Hansenii, Sørensen et al. 813, holotype -C, isotypes -BKF GH K), Phangnga, Surat Thani, Krabi.

Distribution : S Myanmar (type).

Ecology : At low altitudes on sandy and stony banks of streams. Emergent when Flowering: December–April.

Vernacular : Uttaphit hin (อุตพิดหิน)(Ranong, Chumphon) these names have been noted on two Kerr collections (11974 & 16385) that have been ascribed to various taxa viz. costata, tonkinensis, retrospiralis & f. crispatula. Both these collections are here treated as C. albida.

Notes: Rataj (1975) distinguishes Cryptocoryne retrospiralis subsp. albida as different from both C. costata and C. korthausae, however, there is no basis for maintaining them as separate.

The leaf-form in Cryptocoryne albida is rather constant; the colour varies from green to irregularly striped brown, marbled brown and almost evenly brown with some markings. The species is distinguished by its short, more or less recurved spathe limb with a dilated 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 and their size also vary and all transitions occur, from no dots at all to markings completely covering the limb. The length of the limb also varies. It may be short, with only a very short appendage, or longer and twisted several times. The total variation of C. albida does not exceed that found in a given locality at, e.g., Khao Sok, or Ban Nang Yon.

Collections from the River Kwai and from near the Three Pagoda Pass have variously been referred to Cryptocoryne albida and C. crispatula; plants from the Three Pagoda Pass have a short spirally twisted limb, and have therefore recently been referred to C. crispatula. An unpublished molecular study indicates, however, that in spite of the spirally twisted limb, the plants from the Three Pagoda Pass group more closely with the peninsular C. albida. In the same unpublished molecular study, plants from the Nam Lik region in Laos strongly resembling C. albida in the spotted and recurved limb of the spathe, group together with varieties of C. crispatula from the same region. More studies are needed.