Cryptocoryne sp. 'Lingga 22'

Along the stream banks where we found C. sp. 'Lingga 19 - Platinum Line', we found emersed cryptocorynes growing which did not had any 'Platinum' coloured veins.

The leaves were greenish both on the upper and under sides. We managed to find an opened spathe, the spathe was rather small. The limb of the spathe was reddish in colour with protuberances attached. It had a reddish throat too.

We cut open the spathe when we were back in the hotel to photograph the interior.

As we could not confirm that it was the same as C. sp. 'Lingga 19 - Platinum Line', my explorer friend decided to first term it as C. sp. 'Lingga 22'.

Cryptocoryne sp. 'Lingga 19 - Platinum Line'

The natural habitat of C. sp. 'Lingga 19 - Platinum line' was the first cryptocoryne location we went to on our 3rd day of our field trip. We had to bash a few hundred metres into a secondary forest / swamp to reach the stream where the cryptocorynes could be found.

The cryptocorynes were growing fully submersed in the stream, the water level was higher as compared to when my friend visited it previously a few months ago.

From the close up photographs, you could see the striking lighter coloured veins of the leaves.

I scooped a few inhabitants of the stream for photography purpose.

The lighter coloured veins seemed to be metallic in colour, which was why my explorer friend termed this cryptocoryne as "platinum line". The underside of the leaves were greenish in colour and the leaves were bullated.

A distance away, I found some cryptocoryne growing in emersed form on the steeper portion of the stream banks.

The substrate was muddy and the pH of the water was around 5.0.

I unwittingly walked into the web of this striking spider which landed on my head. I hated spider and immediately called out to my friend to help to remove it away from me. Was this a poisonous spider and what would happened if it had bit me? => turn into spiderman?

We found many specimens with unopened spathes as shown below. Fruits were found too. My friend previously cut an unopened spathe of this species before and the limb seemed as if it was red in colour, see this link for the photographs.

Back in the hotel, we attempted to cut open three of the unopened spathes we collected and were shocked to find out that two of the unopened spathes actually harboured caterpillars inside them. We were not sure what type of caterpillars they were or how did they entered the unopened spathe in the first place. It seemed that the caterpillars had fed themselves with the internal male and female portions of the flower.

One of the limb was yellowish in colour instead of reddish, unlike what my friend discovered earlier. Was the difference in colour due to the immaturity of the spathe or effects of the caterpillar attack, or was it because this species had varying coloured spathes? The limbs of the other two spathes reminded me of the surface of pancakes. Hahaha.

Below are the remaining immature male and female flower of the spathe which did not had any caterpillar.

A Morning in Pancur

Below are some photographs of the morning scene in Pancur. The hotel room was the largest one in the hotel with 2 beds and an attached toilet.

We found a large rhino beetle along the hotel corridor on our way out.

This is the place where people buy tickets to board to the ferry to Bintan Island every morning at 0715hrs. The hut housed a coffee shop which we had coffee and breakfast in.

These are the main streets along the river with shops on both sides of the river.

The great mountain of Lingga could be seen across the sea.

The fishing boat just returned to unload their catchings of the day. We were shocked to see what they had caught......

Below are some other random shots of Pancur.

These are ikan billis laid on the ground for drying. The shop owner told us that they would be exported to other areas, including Singapore.

It was a busy morning in Pancur.