Cryptocoryne crispatula var. crispatula
Deciduous herb to 0.5 m tall. Subterranean stem a subglobose tuber, to 6 cm across × 4 cm high, brownish. Pseudostem to 20 cm long. Leaves 1–2; cataphylls green, chequered dark pink; petiole to 25 × 1–1.5 cm, white-green or carmine; leaf blade trifoliolate; leaflets elliptic or obovate, to 35 × 18 cm, margins entire, apex acuminate ending in a short arista, base convex; central leaflet with a petiolule to 4 cm long; lateral leaflets with a petiolule to 1.5 cm long, plain green, with impressed veins above, underside with raised veins. Inflorescence more or less held at foliage level; peduncle equalling or shorter than the petiole, pale green; spathe tube cylindrical, slightly constricted near the mouth, 2.5–6 × 1–2 cm, white-green with faint darker veins near the base, white at the base; spathe mouth margins hardly recurved, green; spathe limb lanceolate, horizontal, nearly the length of the tube and scarcely wider, outside and inside yellow-green with a white spot at throat level, tip long-acuminate; spadix appendix protruding from the tube, but shorter than the spathe, bent forward, conical, ending in a naked and subulate tail, 5–6 cm long × 4–6 mm across at base, smooth, dull olive-green, sessile with carmine or green, stiff and short bristles above the fertile part; fertile zone staminate or pistillate, 1.5–2.5 cm long; staminate flowers loosely arranged, 2–3-androus, anthers white and dark purple at top, on a short stalk; thecae dehiscent by an oval pore; pistillate flowers densely arranged; ovaries ovoid, truncate at the top dark green with white striations; stigma on a short style, penicillate, white. Infructescence on an erect peduncle, cylindrical, 8 × 3 cm; fruits ca 10 × ca 7 mm, prismatic, apically flattened, red-orange when ripe, up to 3 seeds per berry. Seeds globose, 3–4 mm diam.
Chromosome number: 2n = 36, 54.
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos (lectotype), Cambodia, Vietnam, and China (type of C. sinensis).
Stream and riverbanks and beds. Flowering from December–April depending on location.
Notes. — Within what is here called var. crispatula, there seem to be several forms that show a certain variation but it has not been possible to subdivide it further. Apparently var. crispatula mostly grows emergent when flowering, and has comparatively stiff leaves, ending in a shorter or longer apex. Some forms have an entire leaf margin, while others have a more or less irregularly serrulate margin. The length of the leaves varies from 10–30 cm, green but more or less brownish with markings in positions exposed to the sun. Some plants (type specimen) have a relatively long spathe tube ((10–) 12–20 cm long) while others have a rather short one (3–6 cm long). Plants with long spathe tubes tend to inhabit habitats with a somewhat higher, constant water, while plants with short tubes are found in rivers with a strong water fluctuation, e.g. the Mekong, where they are completely emerged during flowering. Long tubed plants are also found in the Mekong, however and are interpreted as originally coming from smaller tributaries and secondarily distributed downstream to places where they can survive in various local niches.