4 replies to this topic

[Mathias]

Hey CP-fans!
In April I had the chance to explore into the Sierra Madre range on the Philippine main island of Luzon. This region is very poorly known biologically, and rarely visited. After riding into the remote Casignan River valley on a rural jeep, the locals in Barangay Lipuga were really surprised to see the first foreign tourist that had found them ever...I got a warm welcome and a place to sleep in the new Barangay hall. The next day was spent on a 7.5 hours hike to the summit of Mount Bintuod (ca. 1935m asl), where we encountered a healthy population of N.ventricosa:








dry season toll


watching out of an emergent Dacrydium tree on the summit


Dendrobium yeageri was abundant in the mossy forest


view over the Casignan Valley and the Sierra Madre range towards north-east. Note deforestation and burning of the lower slopes.
I think Mt. Bintuod is the highest peak in this range, but cartographers seem to have neglected the Sierra Madre so nobody can tell for sure.

We climbed down the next day, taking a detour to see the ~30m Gumaniko waterfall:




Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana


and this is what I beleive a Grammatophyllum, can anybody tell more? Found growing on rocks on a dry ridge at around 800m

On the way out, I could also verify a roadside population of N.alata, with the typical looks of northern Luzon forms.

regards, Mathias

[christerb]

Thanks for posting these pics. Even though N. ventricosa is quite common in cultivation, seeing in-situ pics of this species is certainly not an every day occurrence. It must have been fantastic experience being able not just to see the nepenthes, but also the other flora as well. To bad with the deforestation, but sadly nowadays it seems to be a common sight in the tropics.

Regards,

Christer

[meizwang]

Those are some beautiful photos-thanks so much for the post!  Indeed, there are very few pictures of N. ventricosa in situ, and it's inspiring to see those plants still growing in the wild!  I thought most of the Philippines are destroyed, and it's great to know there are still some pockets of untouched jungle out there.

In my opinion, some of the best, most bulbous looking alatas are from those islands-I recall growing (a long time ago) an all green variant from Cebu, and it was way better than your every day alata that you see in circulation these days.  The traps also turned lemon yellow.  Unfortunately, I was really young and inexperienced at the time, and eventually lost it.

[Carlos 767]

so beautiful flowers!!!

[North]

That is just beautiful! Glad to see nepenthes in the wild :)