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Cryptocoryne griffithii Schott |
Cryptocoryne griffithii was first collected by William Griffith, as long ago
as in 1863. Much confusion arose because of a wrong interpretation of a plant sent by
Ridley from Singapore to the Kew Gardens at the start of the last century, which actually
was a C. ×purpurea. Later on, German aquarium keepers used this name for what
should be named C. cordata var. cordata.
De Wit (1990) gives an overview of these problems. Today, the known distribution of C.
griffithii has found to be from South Johore (Malay peninsula) and Singapore via
Bintan to Kalimantan (Indonesia). Very interesting is that both in Johore and in
Kalimantan, hybrids exists with plants of the C. cordata complex. For the
aquarium keeper all this discussions are of not much help, C. griffithii is a
difficult to grow plant and not suited for the standard aquarium.
Click on the picture to get the full image (ca. 50 kB) |
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Malacca ?(W. Malaysia) The 'classical' C.griffithii with a regularly rugose surface of the limb, a pronounced narrow collar and a short tail.
Probably collected near the type locality in Malacca.
Coll. van Liet s.n.
photo de Wit |
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The original plant as collected by Griffith near
Malacca. Note the excellent condition of the herbarium sheet after nearly 150 years!
Coll. Griffith 6012 (AD 1863)
herbarium New York Botanical Garden (NY)
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Drawing in de Wit (1990) shows all the features
of the 'classical' C. griffithii
drawing Ike Zewald |
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The opened lower part of the tube (kettle) of
the Malacca(?) C. griffithii.
Coll. van Liet s.n.
photo van Bruggen (AD 1961)
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Johore (W. Malaysia). A small ditch in a rubber
tree plantation. Even in very shallow water rather big leeches (15 cm up) live as the man
in the foreground could tell you. Thanks to Oriental Aquarium (SG).
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The same locality as left. One big patch of C.
griffithii grows in only 10 - 20 cm water .
Coll. Bastmeijer 799
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The same locality as left. Note the green
upper side and the - typical - pale reddish to rosa lower side of the leaves.
Coll. Bastmeijer 799
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Johore (W. Malaysia). This one lacks the tail
like end of the limb. The leaves are more narrow and are often marmorated.
Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-30
photo Jacobsen
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Johore (W. Malaysia).A 'manually opened' limb of
the spathe of C. griffithii. The leaves are typical for the 'classical' form. In
an old rubber plantation.
Coll. Jacobsen NJ 85-31
photo Jacobsen
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Johore (W. Malaysia).Most collections of C.
griffithii are from the very South West of Johore. Josef Bogner found this one
near Mersing, East Johore.
Coll. Bogner 1944
photo Bogner
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Bintan (Indonesia). Rather recently, Sasaki from
Japan collected C. griffithii on the island of Bintan, South of Singapore.
Coll. Sasaki I-BISP
photo Sasaki
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The limb of the spathe of the Bintan C.
griffithii is very close to these from the Mersing and Singapore plants.
Coll. Ueno s.n.
photo Ueno
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Singapore. This impressive picture of C.
griffithii is made in the Nee Soon Swamp Reserve.
photo Chan Sow Yan
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A collection of spathe's of C. griffithii from the Nee Soon Swamp in Singapore.
photo Chan Sow Yan
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C. griffithii grows also along the
reservoirs in Singapore in the suburbs of the town.
Coll. Bastmeijer 806
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Herbarium sheet of C. griffithii collected by Ridley in the Woods reservoir in Singapore in1898!
Coll. Ridley s.n.
herbarium Singapore (SING)
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Kalimantan (Indonesia). This a stream south of
the airport of Banjarmasin. The rest of what once was a rainforest. C. griffithii grows not far from here.
photo Snijders
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Kalimantan (Indonesia) This C. griffithii was collected south of Banjarmasin (the color is a bit false due to copying).
Coll. v.d. Nieuwenhuizen s.n.
photo van den Nieuwenhuizen
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A typical stream in the virgin rainforest around
Sampit, South Kalimantan. The water level is low which has two advantages: more
inflorescences and easy access.
photo Sasaki
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The spathe of 'near Sampit' C. griffithii.
In the same stream there also grows C. grabowskii and the hybrid between them C. ´borneoensis.
Coll. Sasaki I-SAKK3
photo Sasaki
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A cultivated specimen with a less 'normal' limb
of the spathe, a bit twisted.
Unknown locality, Jacobsen NJ 3052
photo Jacobsen
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A red limb of the spathe with the same structure
as left.
Unknown locality, Jacobsen NJ 2805
photo Jacobsen
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A cultivated specimen with a very dark limb of
the spathe.
Unknown locality, Jacobsen NJ 2861
photo Jacobsen
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A less regular rugose surface of the limb.
Unknown locality, Jacobsen NJ 3044
photo Jacobsen
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A page of the greenhouse entry book of the
Wageningen university (NL) from 1975. It deals with a shipment by R.A. Gasser (USA), see
the picture at right.
notes by Ike Zewald
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A more deviating specimen with a long(er) tail
and a different surface of the limb.
Unknown locality, Gasser T 81
photo Gasser
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Distribution of C. griffithii in the
Malay Peninsula (Malacca, Johore Singapore and Bintan). Today there are only a very few
localities left.
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Distribution of C. griffithii in
Kalimantan (Indonesia).
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Cryptocoryne griffithii has been imported (at least in Europe) very often
since the 1950's. It is assumed that all these plants originated from Singapore and were
primarily shipped by Yeok Ong, who collected them in the Singapore reservoirs. Later on
the Oriental firm, Singapore, shipped plants from Johore. However, I found out that all
early references to C. griffithii in the European hobby literature, actually deal
with C. ´purpurea or C. cordata var. cordata.
Also plants from Lake Bera in W. Malaysia are often referred as C. griffithii but
actually are also plants of C. ´purpurea.
An important note is that C. griffithii is regarded as one of the parents of the
hybrid C. ´purpurea from W. Malaysia, the other parent being C. cordata var. cordata (Jacobsen 1982). The
recent discovery of C. griffithii in Kalimantan and C.
grabowskii together with the hybrid C. ´borneoensis by Yuji Sasaki, is a great improvement of the knowledge of this hybrid complex (Jacobsen
et al, 2002).
Updated January 2003 |
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