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Giant Nepenthes Tour, Part 2, Ranau


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Hi guys

On advice from a friend we were able to visit a nice Nep site on our way to Mt Tambuyukon. It was a little out of the way and the road was pretty rough, so a 4WD vehicle is needed to get there, but at the site we say some very impressive specimens of N. stenophylla, N. fusca, N. reinwardtiana, N. macrovulgaris and a couple of natural hybrids.

It was a bit of a gamble going to this site as my friend last visited it in 2005, but certainly paid off.

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The roadside habitat.

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One of the first plants that we saw walking along the track was a stunning upper pitcher of N. fusca.

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This upper pitcher had a stunning striped peristome.

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N. fusca upper pitcher

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A few N. fusca upper pitchers in a cluster.

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N. fusca lower pitcher.

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An amazing black variant lower pitcher of N. fusca.

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The black variant N. fusca plant.

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A redish variant lower pitcher of N. fusca.

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The redish variant N. fusca plant.

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A stunning huge 30cm N. stenophylla upper pitcher.

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A scrambling N. stenophylla plant producing upper pitchers.

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Another N. stenophylla upper pitcher.

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A N. stenophylla lower pitcher.

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A 17-20cm N. stenophylla lower pitcher.

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N. stenophylla lower pitcher.

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N. stenophylla lower pitcher.

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A huge clump of N. stenophylla plants.

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Alastair and Jeremiah taking photos of the huge clump.

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A close up of a cluster of upper pitchers of N. stenophylla

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N. stenophylla and N. reinwardtiana growing together in the long grass.

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John taking a few photos of N. stenophylla at a exposed rocky habitat.

Cheers

Steve

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Here's some more photos from the site at Ranau of the other species and natural hybrids.

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To start the photos off, I spotted this Nepenthes from a distance that the others had passed by, that had quite distinctive large, broad 30-35cm leaves. On closer inspection the pitchers were green, slightly bulbous and nothing like I'd ever seen before. Happily Alastair was able to identify this plant later for me as N. macrovulgaris. A species that not many people probably ever see.

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Jeremiah and Alastair checking out N. macrovulgaris on the side of the track. Not the unusual exposed habitat.

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Green lower pitchers of N. macrovulgaris.

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N. macrovulgaris lower pitcher.

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A nice 15cm intermediate red pitcher of N. reinwardtiana.

The green form was a lot more common at this site, but there were still a few red ones around.

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A dark red form of N. reinwardtiana.

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Another dark upper pitcher, strangely this pitcher didn't have any eye spots even though other pitchers did on the same plant.

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An upper pitcher showing a bit of colour.

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A clump of green and red upper pitchers.

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A couple of green upper pitchers with some speckling inside the pitcher.

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Some clump of bright green upper pitchers.

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A huge elongated upper pitcher of N. reinwardtiana that measured about 30cm.

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A green lower pitcher of N. reinwardtiana.

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A huge clump of N. reinwardtiana with numerous male flower scapes.

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Another huge clump of N. reinwardtiana growing on a steep, rocky, exposed slope along with N. stenophylla which can be seen mixed in.

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N. reinwardtiana growing on a tree.

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N. reinwardtiana scrambling high up into the trees.

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A natural hybrid between N. reinwardtiana and N. stenophylla.

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A huge 38-40cm lower pitcher of a natural hybrid between N. fusca and N. stenophylla.

Coming up next:

Part 3 – Mt Tambuyukon

N. edwardsiana, N. burbidgeae, N. tentaculata and N. fusca.

Cheers

Steve

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Thanks for posting these pics. Nice seeing N. stenophylla forms other than the one from Bario.

BTW, do you know if all the habitats pictured is normal for this location? I have read that once there was some mining activity in the Ranau area, and in some photos it almost looks like plant life is making a come-back. However, I guess any disturbance could be because of natural land slides.

Regards,

Christer

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