Cryptocoryne sivadasanii

Care at a glance

Overview

Despite being a seasonal plant in nature, this is one of the easier crypts to keep, and it does well in ordinary hard tap water. The ribbon leaves run very long, so treat it as a background plant, or midground in a deep tank, in a nutrient-rich substrate under moderate light. CO2 is not necessary but speeds up an otherwise slow pace. Like all crypts it can melt after planting or a sharp change in conditions, so settle it once and leave it. Propagate by dividing an established clump, and do not throw away broken roots, since they can regenerate into new plantlets.

In the wild

Cryptocoryne sivadasanii grows in streams and rivers of southwest India, in Kerala and southwestern Karnataka. It is a seasonal plant: it grows submersed while the rivers run full, then flowers as the level drops after the wet season and the streams begin to dry out.

Good to know

A water trumpet in the family Araceae, described by Josef Bogner in 2004 and named for the Indian botanist Sivadasan, who collected live plants in Kerala in 1981. It was long confused with C. consobrina, a species known only from old dried specimens. The submersed leaves are extremely narrow and can exceed a meter in length, more like a Vallisneria than a typical crypt.

Did you know

Broken roots of C. sivadasanii can regenerate into whole new plantlets, a trick very few aquarium plants share.

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