Need help identifying crypts

Discuss specific plants, general plant care, help setting up a plant tank, rare plants, and general help
Post Reply
londonloco
Posts: 236
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:48 pm
Real Name: Loni

Need help identifying crypts

Post by londonloco »

I need help! I ordered 8 different Crypts from a hobbiest for my emersed system, I thought I asked for them to be labeled. I ended up with 9 unlabeled baggies. Plants came in looking pretty good considering it was snowing out when I pulled them out of the mail box, but I have no idea what is what. Below is a list of what I ordered and pics that are numbered (see tags with red numbers). Please help me identify them!

Crypt Balansae
Crypt Lucens
Crypt Lutea
Crypt Petchii
Crypt Pontederifolia
Crypt Retrospiralis
Crypt Wedntii Green
Crypt Wedntii Red

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Thanks all!
User avatar
chris_todd
Posts: 1118
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:05 pm
Location: Catonsville

Re: Need help identifying crypts

Post by chris_todd »

A couple of quick questions:
1) was the seller growing these emersed or submersed?
2) are those pots all the same size (and exactly how big are they, 4")? (trying to gauge leaf size)
3) did #6 and #8 come out of the same bag? They look like the same plant, and the only two in your list that should have long thin leaves like that are balansae and retrospiralis (6 and 8 both look like balansae from what I can tell in the pictures).

Without the benfit of your answers, and assuming the seller had correctly identified their plants, I'd have to guess #3 is lucens, #7 is retrospiralis, and 6 and 8 are both balansae. The Pontederifolia ought to be easy to pick out, with pale lime green leaves with a bit of reddish/purpleish on the underside, but it's not obvious from the pictures which one that is (maybe 4, but possibly 1). Petchii, Lutea, and Wendtii can be harder to distinguish, though wendtii should have longer pointier leaves.

Flowering them will be the only sure-fire way of identifying them.
londonloco
Posts: 236
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:48 pm
Real Name: Loni

Re: Need help identifying crypts

Post by londonloco »

chris_todd wrote:A couple of quick questions:
1) was the seller growing these emersed or submersed? He had them imported, I think he said submersed.
2) are those pots all the same size (and exactly how big are they, 4")? (trying to gauge leaf size) 4" orchid pots
3) did #6 and #8 come out of the same bag? nope, different pots, maybe he got confused...lol... They look like the same plant, and the only two in your list that should have long thin leaves like that are balansae and retrospiralis (6 and 8 both look like balansae from what I can tell in the pictures).

Without the benfit of your answers, and assuming the seller had correctly identified their plants, I'd have to guess #3 is lucens, #7 is retrospiralis, and 6 and 8 are both balansae. The Pontederifolia ought to be easy to pick out, with pale lime green leaves with a bit of reddish/purpleish on the underside, but it's not obvious from the pictures which one that is (maybe 4, but possibly 1). Petchii, Lutea, and Wendtii can be harder to distinguish, though wendtii should have longer pointier leaves.

Flowering them will be the only sure-fire way of identifying them.
Answers in red above. I'm going to pm him, at this point, I'm def not a happy customer. Thanks for your thoughts Chris!
londonloco
Posts: 236
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:48 pm
Real Name: Loni

Re: Need help identifying crypts

Post by londonloco »

OK, guy was super nice, very prompt. His opinions are below, anyone else to chime in? Please....

1 Wendtii Green
2 Wendtii Red
3 Lucens
4 Pont
5 Petchii
6 Balansae
7 retrospirals
8 Retrospiralis
9 Not sure but it looks like wendtii green

Sigh, agrees with Chris on 3-4-6-7.....sigh....
User avatar
DelawareJim
Posts: 1249
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:25 pm
Real Name: Jim Michaels
Location: Southeast PA

Re: Need help identifying crypts

Post by DelawareJim »

Pictures from Jan Bastmeijer's site should help you ID your plants.
http://crypts.home.xs4all.nl/Cryptocory ... habet.html

Comparing them with what I have in my collection I would guess the following:
1. wendtii
2. wendtii
3. C. x willissii (formerly known as lucens)
4. pontederiifolia (although my ponte. has a much wider leaf)
5. wendtii
6. C. crispatula var. balansae
7. retrospiralis or spiralis (spiralis is more common and you really won't know until you flower it)
8. retrospiralis, spiralis, or crispatula var. balansae (hard to tell from the picture)
9. wendtii

I did not name anything petchii (properly called beckettii as it is a triploid version of beckettii) as none of them look like mine or Jans.
http://crypts.home.xs4all.nl/Cryptocory ... 78_378.jpg

Cheers.
Jim
Post Reply

Sponsors