Cryptocoryne bullosa

Cryptocoryne bullosa is a water trumpet species with a relatively small range in Sarawak (East Malaysia) on the island of Borneo. There it grows mostly submersed in rivers.

The plant was named after its conspicuously hammered (bullate) leaves, which make it look very decorative. Cryptocoryne bullosa has been collected in the wild and exported for the aquatic plant trade since the 1970s. Although its name is quite well known in the aquarium hobby, this species is in fact very rare and is considered very difficult to cultivate. According to Jan Bastmeijer¹ and Peter Babics², it has not yet been possible to cultivate C. bullosa permanently.

However, other Cryptocoryne species with studded leaves have also come onto the market under the label “C. bullosa”, among them Cryptocoryne keei, which was only recognised and described as a separate species in the 1980s. Strongly bullate forms of Cryptocoryne affinis, a species from the Malay Peninsula, were also wrongly imported as “C. bullosa” and later called, among other names, “Cryptocoryne pseudo-bullosa”. Cryptocoryne affinis, C. hudoroi and C. keei can be cultivated quite easily, in contrast to true C. bullosa.

Apparently, recently (2013) a form of Cryptocoryne wendtii has also been wrongly in the trade as “C. bullosa”. This plant is likewise easy to keep. So there is a good chance of getting species other than the true one under the fairly common name “C. bullosa”.

The leaf blades of C. bullosa are oblong-lanceolate with a mostly truncate to slightly heart-shaped base and are dark green to almost black. The spathe is approx. 4 cm long, has a red limb and a very dark collar zone.

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