Cryptocoryne cordata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Cryptocoryne cordata Griffith

Protologue: Not. pl. asiat. 3: 138 (1851).

Family: Araceae

Chromosome number: 2n= 34, 68, 102

Cryptocoryne siamensis Gagnep. (1941), Cryptocoryne blassii de Wit (1960).

• Malaysia: hati-hati paya, keladi paya (Peninsular)
• Thailand: waa nam (Surat Thani), u-bee kaling-ai (Malay, Narathiwat).

C. cordata occurs in southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia.

In Peninsular Malaysia the leaves are applied to the head to treat vertigo. C. cordata is a well-known aquarium plant.

Rhizomes of C. spiralis (Retz.) Fisch. ex Wydler are used, in combination with other medicinal plants, in traditional medicine in Sri Lanka, as a remedy for vomiting and cough, and to treat fever and abdominal complaints.

There is no information on the phytochemistry of C. cordata , but the flavones luteolin and chrysoeriol have been recorded for C. wendtii de Wit, and lipids such as sitosterin, hentriacontan and oxoacids for C. spiralis rhizomes.

A small, aquatic, perennial herb up to 40 cm tall, with creeping rhizome. Leaves in a rosette, simple and entire, ovate to narrowly ovate, 5-30 cm × 2.5-10 cm, rounded to cordate at base, acute at apex, often more or less bullate, dark green above, often purplish below; petiole 15-40 cm long, with sheath at base. Inflorescence a spadix with few female flowers in a single whorl and few olfactory bodies at base, and with numerous male flowers and a club-shaped appendix at apex, female and male flowers separated by a long, naked axis; spadix completely enclosed by a spathe up to 35 cm long, consisting of a swollen basal part (“kettle”“), a long-tubular middle part and a spreading, yellowish to purplish blade up to 6 cm long, entrance of kettle with a lateral flap covering the male zone of the spadix. Flowers unisexual, without perianth; male flowers with a single stamen; female flowers with connate, 1-celled ovaries, styles curved, stigmas large. Fruit a berry connate into an ovoid, fleshy syncarp, dehiscing apically, many-seeded.

The olfactory bodies situated near the female flowers spread a carrion smell attracting flies, which enter the kettle of the spathe and act as pollinators. The female flowers are full-grown a few hours to one day before the male ones, promoting cross-fertilization.

Cryptocoryne comprises about 50 species and occurs throughout tropical Asia, including the whole Malesian region. It belongs to the tribe Cryptocoryneae , together with Lagenandra , which also comprises aquatic herbs, differing in its spirally arranged female flowers and its free fruits. A few species closely related to C. cordata (or perhaps conspecific) occur in Borneo.

C. cordata occurs in streams in forest.

Management Plants can be propagated by rhizome division. In-vitro propagation techniques are being practised for mass production of aquarium plants. C. cordata can easily be cultivated in an aquarium; it prefers moderate light and a temperature of 20-28°C.

Many Cryptocoryne species, including C. cordata , have limited distribution areas, and are therefore liable to genetic erosion. They are vulnerable to exploitation and demolition of forest, resulting in strong erosion and rushing, muddy water in streams, which may cause a total washout of aquatic plants and prohibit the establishment of new populations. Moreover, more sunlight facilitates dramatic changes in the vegetation, further enforced by an abundant supply of washed-in nutrients. Collecting for commercial aquarium use may locally endanger Cryptocoryne species.

It is unlikely that the use of C. cordata in medicine will increase. It will remain important as an aquarium plant.

121, 207.

181, 331, 611, 789.

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R.H.M.J. Lemmens