Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
Evergreen herb to 0.8 m tall. Subterranean stem a rhizome, to 20 × 3–6 cm, light brown outside, purplish brown inside. Cataphylls separately sheathing petiole and peduncle, 10–20 cm long, brown; petiole to 70 × 0.8–2 cm wide, green and brown mottled; leaf blade trifoliolate; leaflets elliptic-ovate, to 30 cm long, margins entire and sometimes undulate, apex acuminate, ending in an arista 1 cm long, base convex, with a petiolule 1–5 cm long, plain glossy green, sometimes marked with creamy blotches and veins above, underside glaucous green. Inflorescence held well below the foliage; peduncle 18–25 cm long × 6–8 mm across, green and red mottled; spathe tube funnel-shaped, ca 6 × 1.5 cm at the base, widening to 2.5 cm near the mouth, pale green, white at the base; spathe mouth margins recurved, to 1 cm wide; spathe limb ovate-oblong, ca 7 × 3 cm, glossy dark green, ending in an acuminate–filiform tip to 1 cm long; spadix appendix hardly exserted from the tube, to 3.5 cm long × 2–3 mm wide, sessile, covered with filiform bristles from base to apex, these ca 1 cm long, red-brown or green; fertile zone staminate or bisexual, 3–4 cm long × ca 8 mm wide; staminate flowers 2–4-androus; anthers carmine, stalked, 1 mm long; thecae dehiscent by an oblong pore; pistillate flowers densely arranged; oblong-ovoid and flattened on top; stigma short-styled, white, penicillate. Infructescence on an erect peduncle, cylindrical, to 6.5 × 3 cm; fruits red when ripe, prismatic, ca 1.2 cm wide, somewhat lobed, flattened and depressed on top, up to 2 seeds per berry. Seeds globose, 5–6 mm diam.
Chromosome number: 2n = 36.
Eastern India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam (lectotype), Laos, China (types of C. longispatha and C. kwangisiensis).
Usually submerged in rivers and streams. Flowering December to April.
Note. — Var. balansae develops into the largest and most spectacular of all the varieties when growing under optimal conditions, i.e., with leaves to 70 cm long when submerged, the same plant being, however, only 10–15 cm tall when growing emergent. Besides the differences in leaf-size caused by growing conditions, there are also some forms that do not become as large and have darker leaves, just as forms with narrower leaves exist (see also under var. flaccidifolia).