C. sp. 'Pahang 4'

I woke up early during one of the recent weekend and went on a short field trip to Pahang in Malay Peninsula with my explorer friend.

As it was currently the Puasa (fasting) month, we were lucky to be able to find an Indian shop selling prata for breakfast.

We passed by the cemetery of Cryptocoryne sp. 'Kotat Tinggi' and stopped over for a minute of silence. The matured oil palm plantation had already been chopped down for another cycle of growth, probably using heavy machinery such as bulldozers and excavators. The oil palm plantation owner had finally successfully devised a method to prevent future unauthorised collection of Cryptocoryne sp. 'Kotat Tinggi' by plant collectors, and that was by destroying the habitat. Way to go for conservation!

We also bashed into a jungle in Pahang and managed to find a forest with many puddles of water full of Betta tussyae.

No cryptocoryne luck for day one. However, day 2 was different. We explored a forest stream and found cryptocoryne residing therein. A water snake was spotted too and we managed to chase the snake away before entering the stream.

Cryptocorynes were found growing emersed along the sandy elevated banks of the stream.

The leaves were generally green on both the upper and under sides.

We also found a few specimens with markings on the leaves, the centre vein was white in colour and the underside was slightly reddish.

As mentioned, the base was sandy and the pH was not low, about 6.0 to 6.5

This is a video to share with you.

At one end of the stream, we found a large patch of submersed cryptocorynes. These submersed specimens had larger leaves.

Pahang is really a huge state in Malay Peninsula with many cryptocorynes habitats waiting to be found. As usual, until I am able to locate the flower of these specimens, I will term them as C. sp. 'Pahang 4' first. What do you guess they could be, C. cordata / C. nurii / C. griffithii / C. xpurpurea / C. sp. new etc?