Bucephalandra motleyana "Braun-rot" ("Serimbu")

Bucephalandra motleyana 'Braun-rot' is the former name of an epiphytic plant from Borneo, now Bucephalandra sp. 'Braun-rot' or, after its collecting site, 'Serimbu'.¹ It comes from Wim Tomey's collection made near Serimbu (West Kalimantan) before 2004 and circulated among aquarists as B. motleyana from 2004 – one of the first bucephalandras in the hobby.¹² Because of its fairly smooth spadix appendix and other floral characters it does not belong to B. motleyana in the narrow sense.¹² The true species is known only from Motley's collection from south-eastern Kalimantan and is not in cultivation.³

Its oblanceolate to obovate leaves are short-stalked, moderately tough and show many silvery dots (stomata) under water.¹ It is regarded as fairly undemanding but grows only very slowly; if buried, the rhizome may rot.¹ CO₂, fertilisation, water movement and plenty of light enhance its size and colour.¹

1. Bucephalandra sp. 'Braun-rot' ('Serimbu') – Flowgrow aquatic plant database (accessed 5 October 2026)
2. Bucephalandra: viele neue Arten? (H. Muth) – Aquasabi aquascaping wiki (accessed 5 October 2026)
3. Kasselmann, C. (2019): Aquarienpflanzen. 4th edition (German). - Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart: p. 191.