Cryptocoryne yujii

Care at a glance

Overview

Standard crypt care applies, with a blackwater lean. Plant it in nutrient-rich soil, or inert substrate with root tabs, choose its spot once and leave it there, since relocation triggers leaf loss. Expect some crypt melt after planting and let it regrow rather than pulling it. Low to medium light suits it, CO2 is optional but speeds up an otherwise slow plant, and soft, acidic water gets closest to its peat stream home. It stays a manageable rosette in most tanks and slowly spreads by runners; divide the rhizome or separate plantlets to propagate.

In the wild

soften to what the source says: small, slowly running, somewhat cloudy streams around Sibu on both sides of the Rajang river, growing in little shade; drop the peat/blackwater assertions or add a source that supports them

Good to know

A water trumpet in the family Araceae, described by crypt specialist Jan Bastmeijer in 2002 and named for Yuji Sasaki, the Japanese hobbyist who discovered it near Sibu. Leaves are smooth and bright green, up to about 12 cm long in habitat, and the spathe is unmistakable: a long twisted white limb with a red-purple collar and an irregularly wrinkled inner surface that is the species' signature. The chromosome count is 2n = 34.

Did you know

The species carries its discoverer's first name: Yuji Sasaki found it in Sarawak in 2002, and Jan Bastmeijer named it Cryptocoryne yujii the same year. For a rare blackwater crypt it has a reputation among specialists for being surprisingly willing in cultivation.

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