Australian Crypt List

Some great crypts have been lost from the aquarium hobby in Australia and more dedicated growers are needed to preserve what we have. With Australia's strict biosecurity laws, new varieties are hard to come by.

I'm hoping to uncover new or lost varieties and propagate them up. I was maintaining this crypt list on the Aquariumlife.com.au forum but it closed in 2022 so will update here periodically.

Regretfully, commercial aquarium plant growers in Australia have mostly lost interest in maintaining a rich variety of crypts, instead resorting to selling a couple of varieties and the rest as unnamed "assorted crypts".

ID's have always been a challenge with crypts.  Most people growing them casually do so in their aquarium, but you need the flowering structures to help with identification.  I'm trying to grow each variety both submersed and emersed to flower them to confirm IDs and relate these back to the submersed morphology.

In Cultivation in Australia (grown and propagated)

Cryptocoryne affinis (formery Cryptocoryne haerteliana)
Cryptocoryne albida (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne albida 'costata' (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne albida 'Korthausae' (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne beckettii (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'petchii' (formerly Cryptocoryne petchii) (Pisces)
Cryptocoryne ciliata var. latifolia (Aquarium Gallery Perth)
Cryptocoryne cordata var. siamensis (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne cordata var. siamensis 'blassii' (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne cordata var. siamensis 'rosanervig' (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne crispatula 'red' (Aquagreen) [possibly a form of balansae]
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae 'red stem' - red petioles and mid-vein
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia (uncertain ID - currently growing emersed to resolve - see Cryptocoryne retrospiralis)
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. kubotae (was Crypt. tonkinensis)
Cryptocoryne moehlmannii (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne noritoi (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne parva (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne retrospiralis (Aquagreen) (I think this is Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia )
Cryptocoryne spiralis (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne undulata 'green'
Cryptocoryne undulata 'red' (Pisces) - includes cultivar 'red sun' once sold by Aqua Depot here until someone can grow and flower the two and show they are indeed different.
Cryptocoryne usteriana (Aquagreen)
Cryptocoryne walkeri 'lutea' (Pisces)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Flamingo'
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'red/brown' (Aquagreen) (assuming red & brown are the same)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green' (Pisces)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'broad leaf' (Pisces) (assume = Aquagreen Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'Green2')
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green 'tall' (Pisces)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' (Pisces)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green gecko'
Cryptocoryne xwillisii (formerly Cryptocoryne nevillii Aquagreen) (also Pisces)
Cryptocoryne xwillisii `lucens` (may be the same as Cryptocoryne xwillisii (formerly Cryptocoryne nevillii Aquagreen) )

Confirmed but not established (plant or pictures seen on an internet forum, but no evidence of long term survival or propagation)

Cryptocoryne albida 'brown' (Tropica)
Cryptocoryne aura
Cryptocoryne bullosa [Picture evidence - could be Cryptocoryne affinis reference]
Cryptocoryne cordata var. cordata (Dennerle stock: is probably a C. cordata var. siamensis
Cryptocoryne crispatula (Dennerle)
Cryptocoryne ferruginea
Cryptocoryne fusca
Cryptocoryne griffithii
Cryptocoryne hudoroi
Cryptocoryne sivadasanii
Cryptocoryne striolata
Cryptocoryne undulata 'broad leaves'
Cryptocoryne undulata 'brown' (might be same as 'red')
Cryptocoryne undulata 'Kasselmann'
Cryptocoryne walkeri 'legroi' (but is it any different to other Cryptocoryne walkeri?)
Cryptocoryne walkeri 'hobbit' (formerly Cryptocoryne lutea 'hobbit')
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'kompakt'
Cryptocoryne cf. ×purpurea (Dennerle stock: name thought to be incorrect - perhaps a small cordata)
Cryptocoryne cf. ×willisii 'amicorum' (Aquafleur stock: named incorrectly Cryptocoryne amicorum)

Unconfirmed Reports (not established and no evidence but someone knows someone who overheard someone that claims to be growing one of these)

Cryptocoryne keei 'jambusan'
Cryptocoryne nurii
Cryptocoryne pygmaea
Cryptocoryne sp. 'Silver Queen'

Missing in Action (once recorded in AU but not seen recently)

Cryptocoryne auriculata ^
Cryptocoryne bogneri ^
Cryptocoryne ciliata var. ciliata *¹ (the article refers to ciliatas (pleural) and the one that is in AU currently is var. latifolia)

Cryptocoryne lingua *^ ther are some references to the synonym Cryptocoryne spathulata *^)
Cryptocoryne longicauda *^
Cryptocoryne minima
Cryptocoryne nurii ^¹² [unconfirmed report] (also see C. unknown 'nurii')
Cryptocoryne pygmaea ¹ [unconfirmed report]
Cryptocoryne scurrilis ^
Cryptocoryne schulzei ^
Cryptocoryne thwaitesii ^
Cryptocoryne unknown 'nurii' (Fishchick) A few people have this plant that was sold by Fishchick as Cryptocoryne nurii but BrianS flowered it and it seems to be something else - has not been seen for a while
Cryptocoryne versteegii

* listed by DAFF BICON as allowed imports for "Aquatic plants for use as nursery stock"
^ listed as in AU by Champion et al. 2008. Risk assessment of tradeable aquatic plant species in Australia
¹ listed in this Australian Emerse Crypts article on another site
² pers comm. from grower

Note to any Australian plant importers: Cryptocoryne ciliata, Cryptocoryne lingua, Cryptocoryne longicauda, Cryptocoryne spathulata are allowed imports so please add some to your order

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