Kew Gardens 2: Nepenthes

[Vince81]

After the public visit, someone advised me to call for a Kew Gardener. I did that with a red telephonic cabine!

I took a date for the afternoon, and the result was great! More than 2 hours seeing the collection, the private nursery.

MANY BIG SPECIAL thanks to Nick Johnson, who let me to visit these greenhouses, taken his time for me, and answering at all my questions.

I'm going to put the same species by packet, in spite of the fact it's not every time the same plant. I think it's easier to see.

On the door:

When I saw around me:

The difference is here, flagrant: I grow seedlings, they grow plants!

Some R. gorgonias i the foreground, near to the brumisation:

New species, young plants and cuttings:

N. alba:

N. deaniana:

N. kongkandana:

N. bokorensis:

N. treubiana:

N. thai:

I love this one. N. eustachya:

[Vince81]

...

N. maxima:

N. pervillei:

Plant from in-vitro :

Cute N. villosa:

In a Bromelia, U. nelumbifolia:

N. albomarginata red:

N. albomarginata:

N. ampullaria:

N. bicalcarata:

N. treubiana:

...

[Vince81]

N. danseri:

N. fusca:

N. vogelii:

N. truncata:

N. pilosa x veitchii:

N. veitchii:

Strange N. ventricosa...seems to be a hybrid:

N. tobaica:

In red:

N. stenophylla:

...

[Vince81]

...

N. spectabilis:

N. spathulata:

N. insignis:

2 N. sanguinea:

N. reinwardtiana:

N. rafflesiana:

N. philippinensis:

N. pervillei :

N. mirabilis var. anamensis:

Seems to be N. merilliana x alata:

Again N. maxima:

N. eymae:

Another one:

[Vince81]

N. rajah[/i]. With difficulties to grow due to in vitro's problem.

N. sibuyanensis:

N. sanguinea:

N. petiolata:

N. macfarlanei:

N. reiwardtiana x macrovulgaris. Purple plant:

And hidden in Kew Gardens:

N. burkei:

Wonderful N. ampullaria 'Cantley's Red' :

Keep cool. They have also terrariums :

[Phil Green]

Fantastic pic's - Thanks for showing.

I've never seem 'behind the scenes' - how lucky of you.

I didn't realise they now had such wonderful Neps.

[Daniel O.]

Wow, millions of pictures, like you have promised it a few days ago.

They have really a very big number of plants and are doing a good job.

For sure you have had a lot of fun there.

Best regards,

Dani

[HESSEL]

fantastic pics.

i,ve never been to kew. but i,ll have to visit some time

thanks for the pics.

[faunista]

really fantastic!

[Sebulon]

Wow... Just wow... If someone accidentally let me there, I think my bank account would be empty in a second!

[D_muscipula]

I do believe I've just added some new nepenthes to my want list.

[gardenofeden]

great pics

I think those terraria are "dew-point" cabinets for cuttings

[christerb]

Thanks for letting us accompany you on this visit to Kew. It must have been a wonderful time wandering about, and seeing all the well grown plants.

It seems that not only we hobby growers have problems with mislabeled plants.

Regards,

Christer

[Vince81]

With pleasure :). Thanks for all the comments.

You see what I meant few days ago, Dani?

Sebulon, no plants were on sale, it was a botanical collection.

Indeed, Stephen, these terraria were used for cuttings, which were placed after in the greenhouse.

Christer, I met some problems of mislabeled plants, and I said them to Nick. He explained he has to take care about a HUGE number of plants, and it is difficult to be ultra-rigorous.

But, really, he tries and he manages to realize a good job.

[Dave Evans]

Dear Vince,

What a collection! Wow. Some species are a first time for me, seeing healthy examples of well grown plants!

N. pervillei still looks mad about something though... Seems like very few people can make this species happy in cultivation. I'm certainly not one of them either

I realize these aren't your plants, but I noticed some things I'm wondering about. This looks more like N. burkei to me, than does the plant labeled "N. bukei":

and

While this plant looks like N. ventricosa, and has been mislabeled at Kew as "N. burkei" for a very long time:

This plant could use a new label, when it was distributed, it widely believed N. chaniana was N. pilosa. However, this situation has now been clarified and the other parent of this fairly common natural hybrid is now known to be N. chaniana with N. pilosa being much rarer and only known from one location:

N. chaniana * N. veitchii; AFAIK, all plants in cultivation are single male clone.

Not only is this not N. ventricosa, it doesn't appear to have any N. ventricosa in it. I swear this looks like what I would expect from a hybrid between N. eustachya and N. alata!

and

But it is probably a pure N. alata (in the broad sense)... Or an example of a hybrid with "hairless alata" species which looks rather intermediate between N. alata and N. eustachya. This "hairless alata" (and something else/new again) was featured as N. alata in Stewart McPherson's new books.

For comparison, here is a photo of pure N. alata (the plant in the photo is a highlander from Luzon which strictly matches the description by Jebb and Cheek):

I think if you hybridized N. alata pictured above with the "hairless alata", you would like get pitchers very close to these:

Edited November 11, 2009 by Dave Evans

[calek]

ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR CP'S!

Why when I went to Kew gardens in June, did I not see this awesome greenhouse? I mean it looks pretty big and difficult to miss!

Well, anyhow good pics.

[marcello catalano]

Well, if we talk about mislabelling, then the "insignis" is a N. x coccinea :)

But I know, there at Kew it's difficult to stay behind all those plants. After all, we all have a passion for carnivores here. But there, suddenly your boss comes and say "ok, from tomorrow you'll be in charge for the Nepenthes, the orchids and the bromeliads", or even for the whole tropical nursery. You can't be an expert of everything, so you basically make sure that the plants get watered, at least!! :) One day, someone will take your place, so hopefully he'll make a better job. These guys are heroes, but the problem with "institute collections" is this, there's not just one person following one specific collection for his whole life.

Strange, I see a number of plants of excellent quality, and some others in bad conditions. Maybe they just need some new compost and a bigger pot, who knows...

[rsivertsen]

So true "cello! Reminds me of Longwood Gardens. Curators have their own career paths like everybody else, in any other job, and when a position opens up for advancement, they get repositioned to a higher tier, perhaps growing plants that are totally unfamiliar to them. Some places have union rules that determine these things.

Longwood grew ALL their Nepenthes the SAME way, in hanging baskets. I tried to give them some established N. bical, N. amps and a few other lowland things that needed to be in large pots, and kept fairly wet, and told them NOT to put these plants into those small hanging baskets, but if they needed to repot them, to put them into large pots that could have a small tray of water under them.

A few months later, I came back to find all the lowland plants I gave them were limp and in small hanging baskets, that soon died afterward.

Sad thing is that these plants are all at the whims and mercy of those who are in charge, and if someone new comes in who is NOT at ALL interested in Nepenthes, and would rather have a large Cycad, or cactus and succulant collection instead, guess what; the Nepenthes get thrown into the incinerator to make room for the other plants. Longwood isn't even allowed to just give those plants away either, like they used to do. Just the way it is, a reality check. - Rich

Edited November 30, 2009 by rsivertsen

[flycatchers]

But I know, there at Kew it's difficult to stay behind all those plants. After all, we all have a passion for carnivores here. But there, suddenly your boss comes and say "ok, from tomorrow you'll be in charge for the Nepenthes, the orchids and the bromeliads", or even for the whole tropical nursery. You can't be an expert of everything, so you basically make sure that the plants get watered, at least!! :) One day, someone will take your place, so hopefully he'll make a better job. These guys are heroes, but the problem with "institute collections" is this, there's not just one person following one specific collection for his whole life.

Strange, I see a number of plants of excellent quality, and some others in bad conditions. Maybe they just need some new compost and a bigger pot, who knows...

I think you have struck the nail on the head. People who are passionate about a particular species moved to other areas. So the plants can look good one year and less happy another. The thing that puzzled me when I have visited this private nursery in the past was the overall growing conditions. The bulk of the houses were heated and setup to lowland conditions- and indeed most of the lowlands were loving it. But the majority of the highlands were also in similar conditions and were not so happy! Only one area seemed cooler and that was filled mainly with orchids. Giving better highland conditions would not only help the plants but cut their fuel bill as well! Even so from these batch of photos the majority do look well and thriving so perhaps they have tweaked the thermostat!

My only other criticism is where they cut back large plants, take cuttings and compost the mother plant! Only if another recognised Botanical garden askes for a particular plant do they supply it. Otherwise it is binned. I fear this is because of the "institute collections" attitude. Can you imagine if they sold these discarded plants in their shops rather than the Dutch imports they do sell!

Some of their older Neps still have original and now redundant names on their labels. And others clearly wrong like a Nepenthes ramispina labelled as hamata! I did point it out but on a later visit it was still wrong!

Excellent photos Vince

cheers

bill

[Guest megamowglee]

Hi all!

Firstly, Vince, thanks so much for posting the pics of your visit on the net, it was good to meet you and always nice to see such a great reaction for the collections!

So, to answer some of the statements made on the thread

Firstly, we don't always compost the mother plant! But as you can guess, the tropical nursery collection as a whole is running at about 25,000 accessions, if we have to keep on average 3 plants per accession, that's a grand total of nearly 75,000 plants, from all over the tropics and all different genera!! If we kept big plants of everything that grew as quickly as Neps, we'd very soon run out of space!! I try to get the large plants out to the public glasshouses, but this is'nt always easy, as we still need to make displays that have a variety of genera... Watch this space though, Nepenthes zone coming soon...

We don't sell plants! Many of the collectors supply us for research only, to sell would be going against everything a place that's here for the plants sake (not the money!)

Even if I left tomorrow, the Nepenthes collections would not be left to the whim of another gardener, to destroy as he/she wishes. We have a commitment to our collections that transcends generations of gardeners. To give you an example - I was just the other day looking at a Bulbophyllum in flower that had been in the gardens since 1899! However, that said, our collections are only as good as the gardener looking after them. For this I am guilty of having some specimens that don't look their best, but I am trying (everyday!) with my team to get them the best they can be. Not making excuses, but this collection is one of 7 plant collections my team looks after, including the threatened island flora collection, some species of this collection are extinct in the wild and only one or two remain in cultivation. So, priorities...

The highland house is predominantly for Orchids. I'm afraid that in the grand scheme of things, the orchid collection is big and old, the highland Nep collection is relatively new, but I try and beg for more space every year!

Naming - Now this is a biggie for me and the team. Let me explain - We are the gardeners, we spend our time looking after the plants, conducting protocols, propagating and teaching the next generation of gardeners. Herbarium botanists do the naming and unfortunately ours are also pretty tied up and have been for a while. I can't just rename a accession, because I need information like the original type specimen authority etc... I promise you though, I'm really trying hard to get some botanists down next year to get to work on the correct naming of the collections, I'm even threatening to send plants to them!!

So, thanks for all the lovely comments, and the feedback... BTW, can anyone suggest a good compost mix w/ ratios for the rajas?

Nickxx

[vraev]

Hi Nick,

I think I have seen you in "A Year at Kew" series. lol!!

Good to see someone from the gardens here. Fantastic collection overall. Glad to hear the growing commitment from Kew to notice the great diversity and beauty of the nepenthes genus. Speaking about N. rajah...there is something I wanted to ask someone from Kew. Knowing that the only clones of N. rajah available are those 3 clones from your gardens.....and with the growing commitment of the millenium seed bank and so on...has anyone at Kew tried to preserve or collect new nepenthes seed from species like rajah, villosa, macrophylla, edwardsiana etc etc? Also...have u guys considered refreshing your clone set as from what I hear...all the 3 rajah clones are male.

cheers,

Varun

[Guest megamowglee]

No plans as yet for new collections from the wild, Vraev! I know the guys in the conservation bio-technolology unit are experimenting with cryogenic preservation at the mo, but a solid way to preserve the whole genera in store is still a long way off I think...

As for refreshing the N.raja clone, I'm always on the look out! But it has to be collected legally. N.raja is CITES Appendix 1, making it incredibly difficult to move... Maybe impossible... Shame, in some cases like this, CITES can hamper the conservation of a species...

[vraev]

I understand and totally accept that seed collections should be made legally with permission from the sarawak govt and the park authorities. I am sure Kew is interested in the plant life from the great Crocker range. Have there been any recent 'legal' plant hunting expeditions there? Also just out of curiousity...how hard would it be for a "World heritage site" like Kew to request a expedition to legally collect seed of these species. I mean...N. rajah is thankfully doing well in the wild due to the strict authorities and the wonderful capacity of this species to thrive in culture. (As far as i know). But, I guess more emphasis should be placed on species like N. clipeata, N. campanulata..etc. Would it be legally possible with govt. validation to go and make controlled collection of some of these species? Then the seed can probably be distributed legally to other leading botanical gardens like in germany, atlanta etc and perhaps some to the nepenthes propogators around the world like BE, wistuba etc.

Edited December 20, 2009 by vraev

[Guest megamowglee]

Interesting question...

I've heard of only a handful of collections happening in the last 10 years (not exclusively plants and not Kew). There is a fantastic botanist out there called Peter Boyce (ex-Kew) but I believe he's mainly into Aroids.

I have made enquiries in the past on Kew collecting and it goes like this -

For the time being, unlike the old days; in the main, Kew mostly collects with partner countries in the MSB (Millennium Seed Bank) program. Sarawak (Borneo and Malaysia too) isn't a partner country. http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/co...tners/index.htm

In order for us to collect there, interested gardeners/botanists would have to raise the funds through a number of burseries, then apply for leave, then apply for permits (collection, CITES/CBD, and phytosanitary certificates) Now thats a lot of paperwork! Phyto and CITES works in the way that you haver to get the paperwork for the exact plants your going to get, so if you don't find that species they're relatively useless and (funnily enough) if you find something new, you don't have the paperwork to collect it!! It could be done without a recce trip 6 months before but it would be extremely complicated, and I've only heard of 4 such trips from Kew in the last (almost!) 10 years I've been at Kew...

I just don't have time in the next 2 years, but after that... But then there's the Tepuis too! Also a long dreamed of trip through the western Himalaya to Nubra Valley in Kashmere. Oh and not forgetting wanting to go to either Chagos Archipelago or Pitcairn's Island with the UK Overseas Territory team. Oh and West Africa to find Triphyophyllum and look at the habitat restoration being done by a mining company there. Damn! It's high on the list though...

A better option would be for us to help build capacity in country, establish a good network of botanic gardens and labs there and help to train locals to look after their own wildlife.

Have you got any plans to go?

Nick

[Malifex]

Just to add to what Nick said...

It's true that most countries supporting Nepenthes are not currently major partners of the Millennium Seed Bank project (with a few exceptions - we've had N. madagascariensis in the Bank for several years), but that doesn't automatically prevent us accepting seed collections.

In order for us to take seeds of any species we just need to know that they have been collected in accordance with local, national and international law. CITES only affects a couple of species, I believe, so we are mainly talking about permission from the landowner (if required) and permission from the government to export. Now, that makes it sound simple, and of course it isn't, but it does mean that we can accept material from pretty much any country, as long as the necessary conditions are fulfilled.

We have even been known to take seeds from cultivated plants where the origins of the wild 'ancestor' are well-documented.

There was an initiative to collect and conserve seeds of N. clipeata, which we fully supported, but that seems to have stalled for the time being. There is a widely-held belief that Nepenthes seeds are very short-lived, but I have carried out (very limited) trials and had success at storing seeds at -20C. I suspect the problem is that seeds are rarely dried down thoroughly before storage - no point storing them in the fridge if they are still moist, viability will drop rapidly. We have a portable drying system using silica gel which would be ideal for field use in the wet tropics, if only I could persuade anybody to use it (hint, hint, Sockhom, Stewart McPherson et al!)

All the best,

Steve

Millennium Seed Bank Kew