C. pallidinervia all melted except.....

I have potted the C. pallidinervia collected near Sibu in Sarawak in 2 separate pots of ADA Malaya + Ocean Free peat granules + BE1 organic fertiliser. They were growing well for a few weeks before suddenly melting away within just a couple of days. Sad, I guess it might be because the ratio of peat granules (about 10% only) was insufficient.

In an attempt to save them, I transferred a few remaining plants into a pot with rotting Ketapang leaves + coconut husk, hoping the the pH of the substrate would then be lower to aid in their growth. However, these plants melted away too except for...

... one leaf with petiole already melted away. This particular "last leaf standing" managed to remain green and healthy looking for more than a month already. Below is a photograph which I took yesterday to show its status, it is still looking good except for the petiole connection area which has started to turn yellowish.

Weird?

C. pallidinervia 'Sibu 2'

We found another patch of cryptocorynes in another black water ditch along the road towards Sibu. From the apperance and location, we guessed that it should be similar to the 1st cryptocoryne we found, C. pallidinervia.

I managed to find a spathe with a rotting limb. Luckily, when I cut open the kettle, the female and male flowers were still well intact. From the short spadix and the purple interior of the kettle wall, I believed we could conclude the identity as C. pallinervia.

We bashed into the forest beside the ditch to see if the cryptocorynes could be found inside the forest and were happy to locate a healthy population of emersed specimens.

The cryptocorynes were growing on the sandy bed of the forest.

C. pallidinervia 'Sibu 1'

This was the first species of cryptocoryne we found during my maiden trip to Sarawak. The cryptocorynes were in a black water ditch along the road near Sibu. There were no emersed specimens, all of them were submersed under water.

The pH of the water was low, lesser or equal to 4.5. From the above photographs, it could be seen that the bed of the ditch was sandy mud.

We managed to find a few spathes but none of them were opened. However, from the look of the small and short kettle and the location which we found the specimens, we deduced that this should be C. pallidinervia.