Four new species of Nepenthes

[stewart]

Dear Members of the CPUK forum,

Through the hard work of many friends (especially Francois Mey, Thomas Gronemeyer, Andreas Fleischmann, Alastair Robinson), four new Nepenthes species were described in my new books (Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 1 & 2), which I would like to introduce here.

Two of the plants were discussed here, on the CPUK forum in February shortly after my last trip in Palawan, so many thanks to the many CPUK forum members who responded with observations relation to the association of these two plants to each other, and other Nepenthes.

The four new Nepenthes species are;

Nepenthes gantungensis (from Mount Gantung in the Philippines). This plant is interesting because it is morphologically very similar to N. mira, although occurs at the opposite end of Palawan from that species. Many morphological characteristics seperate it from N. mira, including the morphology of the pitchers. Much like N. mira, it is known only from a very narrow altitudinal range close to the summit of the only mountain where it is known to occur.

Nepenthes hamiguitanensis was found by Volker Heinrich, Thomas Gronemeyer and myself in 2008, although at that time we believed the plant to be a hybrid between N. micramphora and N. peltata. More recent studies conducted by Thomas Gronemeyer and Andreas Wistuba revealed the plant to indeed be stable and reproducing, and even though it is of hybridogenic origin, the vast populations of this plant on Mount Hamiguitan represent a seperate and stable entity from both N. micramphora and N. peltata, and are distinct in many morphological and ecological ways.

Nepenthes holdenii was discovered and named by Francois Mey and Jeremy Holden in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia. This plant is really interesting because it is very distinct from all other Nepenthes known from Indochina, and seems more aligned to taxa from other parts of Southeast Asia.

Nepenthes palawanensis was found atop of Sultan's Peak in Palawan, and I introduced and discussed it on this forum in February. It is extremely interesting because the pitchers are simply massive - larger than N. attenboroughii, and almost as large as N. rajah. Although extremely closely related to N. attenboroughii, it is morphologically distinct. Interestingly, while N. attenboroughii very rapidly produced upper pitcher, N. attenboroughii appears not to do so at all, and no upper pitchers were observed in the wild at the type locality among hundreds of mature, flowering plants that were observed.

Anyway, I hope this follow up is of interest. The full descriptions and alot of images are in my books;

Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 1 -

Carnivorous Plants and their Habitats Vol. 2 -

As you may know, I am using the books to raise money for the protection of Sarracenia habitat, and now the total funds raised and donated stands at US $7,500 - so thank you all for helping make this possible!

My very best regards to you all,

Stewart

[dchasselblad74]

Stewart, these are very magnificent new discoveries...I personally would like to extend my thanks to you and your colleagues, in the effort to save these fragile habitats that really are in desperate need of our protection...

DexFC

[gardenofeden]

very interesting, esp. like the Nepenthes hamiguitanensis

[Tim Caldwell]

Thanks for sharing that Stewart, fantastic! It's great that you guys are providing us with this constant stream of new and interesting nep species.

N. hamiguitanensis in particular really caught my eye, and I'm sure everyone's already deciding where it's going to look best in their greenhouses :-)

Cheers,

Tim

[gabew]

thanks you very much to you and your colleagues those are great discoveries!

i too especially love that N. hamiguitanensis it is amazing

any idea when any of those will be sold commercially

thanks again

[Paul Schoeneberg]

thanks you very much to you and your colleagues those are great discoveries!

i too especially love that N. hamiguitanensis it is amazing

any idea when any of those will be sold commercially

thanks again

They are sold commercially, on the ICPS they were.

If you write Andreas Wistuba a mail or Thomas Gronemeyer I'm sure you will get a seedling for 60 Euros.

Best regards,

Paul

Edited October 11, 2010 by Paul Schoeneberg

[Stefan P]

I feel like I am simply paraphrasing those who have commented before me, but N. hamiguitanensis is certainly a magnificent plant, the shape, for lack of a better word, is wierd! Like an hourglass N. gatungensis is another interesting looking plants, and really does look like mira. The holdenii uppers are really cool as well

Edited October 11, 2010 by Stefano

[LeeBr]

Stewart,

you might want to revise your paragraph on N. palawanensis because as written you have N. attenboroughii both rapidly producing and not producing upper pitchers, instead of one of the options belonging to N. palawanensis.

But congratulations on these exciting new discoveries.

And I hope you get to look around Samar, Leyte, Western Mindanao and far northern Luzon some time.

LeeB.

[thez_yo]

N.hami

Congratulations on the wonderful pictures for the book - I can't wait to get them and the plants themselves!

Edited October 11, 2010 by thez_yo