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Cryptocoryne (water trumpet) is a genus of aquatic monocot plants from the family Araceae (arums). The genus is naturally distributed in tropical South and Southeast Asia and in New Guinea with about 60 species.
The typical habitats of Cryptocoryne are mostly streams and rivers with not too rapidly flowing water, in the lowland forest. They also live in seasonally inundated forest pools or on river banks submerged only at high water. Although the proper scientific name of the genus is Cryptocoryne, they are commonly referred to as crypts. The English name "water trumpet" refers to their inflorescence, a spadix enclosed by a spathe (typical for the whole family), which resembles a trumpet.
The first Cryptocoryne species was described in 1779 as Arum spirale by Retzius . The genus was described by Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer in 1828. Today, Cryptocoryne is probably one of the best known genera of the family Araceae. However, the scientific classification of Cryptocoryne species is very complicated and there are different opinions about it. Lagenandra is another genus closely related to the genus Cryptocoryne.
Some water trumpets are popular commercially cultivated aquarium plants. Submersed plants reproduce vegetatively, emersed plants may flower and reproduce sexually. Many species are cultivated only by dedicated experts and are very hard to grow, or not in a culture at all. Some species are endangered because their natural habitats are disappearing. On the other hand, some water trumpets (eg. Cryptocoryne beckettii) are invasive species introduced to North America.
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