Cryptocoryne dewitii

Cryptocoryne dewitii is endemic to New Guinea and one of only three water trumpet species known so far (as of early 2014) from this island. It was named in honour of the cryptocoryne or aquatic plant expert Prof. H.C.D. de Wit (1909-1999). The other two species from New Guinea are C. versteegii and C. ciliata, which is widespread in tropical Asia. C. dewitii has so far only been found at one place in the centre of the island near Kiunga (Papua New Guinea), and indeed twice. The growing site is a swamp area stocked with sago palms near peat swamp forests. After the original collection in 1971 (Paul Katik, herbarium specimens only) and the scientific description by Niels Jacobsen in 1977, there were attempts to rediscover the plant in the wild. This only succeeded in July 2009 for the cryptocoryne connoisseur Takashige Idei, who also brought back living plants and distributed them. Only since then has C. dewitii been in cultivation, in Europe so far only with a few hobbyists, who mostly keep the plant emersed (see Reitel 2011²).

Hans-Georg Evers (2013³) received C. dewitii from Mr Matali (Golden Leaf Farm, Java, Indonesia) and found that it is well suited as an aquarium plant and undemanding. This species certainly deserves to be spread in the aquarium hobby. It is evidently not available commercially in Europe, and this is probably not going to change for the time being.

- To be continued -