Cryptocoryne Fisch. ex Wydler is a genus of aquatic plants from the family Araceae. The genus is distributed in tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia and New Guinea. The typical habitats are mostly streams and rivers with not too rapidly flowing water, or seasonally inundated forest pools, or on river banks submerged only at high water. They grow from creeping rhizomes and are commonly called water trumpets or crypts.
Cryptocoryne spiralis (Retz.) Fisch. ex Wydler is a perennial aquatic aroid native to regions in South India (Western Ghats). It features linear-lanceolate leaves and a spirally twisted spathe, adaptations typical of helophytes that inhabit slow-moving freshwater bodies and wetland margins. The twisted spathe has a flap that restricts self-pollen deposition and allows pollinators to escape with cross-pollens. Photograph by Saket Shrotri.
