Inside the kettle of C. pontederiifolia 'Thomson'

I cut open the kettle of C. pontederiifolia 'Thomson' (the one flowering in my tub pond) to take some close up shots of its interior for record.

C. pontederiifolia 'Thomson' - a master of adaptability

I was checking on the good works carried out by my platys, guppies and bettas in helping me to clean up my pots of infested cryptocorynes (i.e. infested with algae, mould, fungus, aphids, etc) when i suddenly realised ......

...... that my C. pontederiifolia 'Thomson' was flowering. This was one of my very first specimen in my collection. It was so stable that I decided not to keep it in my cultivation tanks when I did not have sufficient space and threw it into my metal tub in my balcony.

The plants were adapting well. Even though the pot was already toppled over long time ago, the roots of the plants were growing well and forming a thick web over the pot holding the soil in place.

I hope that these plants will continue to grow well, feeding off the nutrients from the mulm of the fishes.

Relocating C. pontederiifolia due to lack of space

My current three cultivation tanks are full now I am taking all measures to slow down the process of needing to set up my 4th (low pH) and 5th (neutral pH) tanks. Apart from re-potting and combining more cryptocorynes of the same species and locality into the same pot, I am going to transfer some of my cryptocorynes species outdoor instead.

C. pontederiifolia is the first to go as I have been growing them outdoor before previously. This time round, I placed them in my small tub pond instead. This is how they looked like after 2 weeks, adapting well in my opinion. However, they are now susceptible to attacks by various pests found in my mom's balcony garden! I am thinking of shifting my C. ferruginea outdoor next.

C. pontederiifolia

Since my C. pontederiifolia started blooming last month, it has already continuously boomed for the 3rd time and so, I decided to cut the spathe off today for photography purpose:

Well, that's the best I could do with my Nokia N73......

Cryptocorynes found during old field trips in Singapore

Many species of cryptocorynes can be found in the wild in Singapore, many are probably not native but introduced species brought in by the aquatic plant traders and farmers due to their popularity as an aquarium species. Below are some photographic records which I took during my old field trips to just one single locality in Singapore and I was not even into collecting cryptocorynes then!

Probably an introduced species of various variants of C. wendtii (due to its popularity as an aquarium species) since this species is recorded as only distributed in Sri Lanka by the crypts pages?

Probably another introduced species and a rather popular aquarium species too, C. parva, which is also recorded as only distributed in Sri Lanka by the crypts pages.

This possibly could be C. griffithii (I thought I do see some tinges of redness below the leaves) which is recorded as a native species in Singapore by the crypts pages, finally!

Could this be a submersed C. x timahensis (i.e. transplanted to this place from Bukit Timah Hill since this species could really fetch very good money for the aquatic plant farms nearby)? If yes, this is another not only native but endemic species of Singapore according to the crypts pages!

I was lucky to managed to find a spathe of C. pontederiifolia there too. The crypts pages recorded its distribution as only in West Sumatra. Is this likely be an introduced species too or could this possibly be a native species since Sumatra is actually not as far from Singapore as compared to Sri Lanka?

The above are just pure speculations and if I identified any of the species shown in these old photographs wrongly, do let me know and sorry for the errors.

My first spathe in the emersed tank setup!

I have finally managed to get my first spathe in my 2.5 feet emersed tank since setting it up in April 2008, and the winner is C. pontederiifolia again (winner for my planter box set up too). This cryptocoryne is grown in GEX brand substrate + peat and the pot is partially submersed in water of pH 4.5. Lighting is through a 18W FL switched on for about 8hrs a day.

C. pontederiifolia in the wild

These are some photographs of C. pontederiifolia in the wild in Singapore:

I managed to snap a photograph of a flowering C. pontederiifolia many years ago:

I managed to get this species of cryptocoryne to flower under cultivation in my flower bed too with a mixture of Garden soil and 'Horti' soil:

It then developed into a fruit (syncarpium) for me, ugly and black in colour:

The flower bed was unfortunately heavily flooded one rainy day and when I poured away the water into the drain (along with lots of floating dirt), I saw this:

It was too late by then, I have already poured all the floating seeds (which I thought were dirt) into the drain..... sob sob.

My emersed planter box

I started my emersed planter box in February 2008 with some emersed Echinodorus and Cryptocorynes bought from Teo farm. The potting mix was formed with a packet of Horti Soil (lower layer) and a packet of garden soil (upper layer) bought from NTUC. As compared to my emersed tank, this planter box sitting in my balcony has more luck with flowering cryptocorynes.

C. pontederiifolia

Unknown sp. bought from Teo farm, possibly a varient of C. wendtii?