Nepenthes lowii
| Nepenthes lowii | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nepenthes lowii |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nepenthes lowii | ||||||||||||
| Hook.f. |
Nepenthes lowii is a carnivorous plant from the genus pitcher plants ( Nepenthes ). It wasfirst describedby the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker around 1859. The species name lowii honors the botanist Hugh Low jr. (1824–1905), who brought it with him from an expedition to Asia around 1854.
Occurrence
Nepenthes lowii is native to Borneo in the states of Sabah and Sarawak . It lives in the moss forests of the Mount Kinabalu , Mount Trus Madi , Mount Murud and Mount Mulu mountain ranges at altitudes of 1,600 to 2,600 meters.
description
Nepenthes lowii is an evergreen subshrub that lives either terrestrially , lithophytically or epiphytically and is characterized by creeping or climbing habit. The shoots can be up to six meters long and 7-10 mm thick. The plant lignifies with age and often sprouts young shoots from the wood. The alternate leaves of Nepenthes lowii are inverted heart-shaped when young, later more broadly elliptical. They have a leathery, slightly hairy surface and are 15–30 cm long and 6–9 cm wide.
The ground pitchers of Nepenthes lowii are egg-shaped in the lower part, more tubular towards the top and slightly constricted in the middle. From the peristome down, the ground pitchers have ciliate wings that reach 2/3 to 3/4 of the pitch. The peristome is rounded and serrated on the inside. The lid of the pitcher is studded with villi up to 6 mm long, between which a characteristic, whitish substance is excreted.
The air cans of Nepenthes lowii, on the other hand, are spherical with a strongly constricted neck, which is strongly inclined upwards and has a disproportionately wide, teardrop-shaped opening. The peristome is noticeably regressed. The lid is oval, clearly bulged in the shape of a bowl and studded with villi. He is usually strictly upright and at right angles to the opening. The color of the pitchers is predominantly a light olive green, with the inside of the opening being mostly flesh red. In general, the pitchers are 15-25 cm long.
Inflorescence and flower
Like most of her relatives also forms Nepenthes lowii panicles inflorescences of (inflorescences). Nepenthes lowii is dioecious separate sexes ( diocesan ), so the female and male flowers are on different plants. The flowers have five bracts , their diameter is about 8 mm. The seed pods are barrel-shaped and 2.2 cm long.
ecology
In addition to its ability to capture insects, Nepenthes lowii also has a specialty in terms of its food procurement: a whitish, gelatinous substance is sometimes formed between the villi on the inside of the lid, which is used to attract small pointed squirrels of the species Tupaia montana . Their excrement falls into the cans, which gives Nepenthes lowii additional nutrients. The natural scientist and botanist J. Harrison reported on the phenomenon as early as 1960, but he thought the whitish excretions were snail eggs .
Collectors and breeders such as Ed de Vogel report that the wide opening of the air cans catches falling leaves , which has earned the plant the nickname “Vegetarian Pitcher Plant”. The foliage also serves as a nutritional supplement.
Endangerment status
Because of their complicated maintenance and their rarity, Nepenthes lowii is a sought-after collector's item. Together with the ongoing destruction of their habitats for agricultural purposes, this has meant that Nepenthes lowii has to be protected by the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species (CITES) on Appendix I of the list of “threatened species”.
Botanical research
history
Nepenthes lowii was accidentally identified as a subspecies of Nepenthes macfarlanei by botanist Bertram Evelyn Smythies in publications of the UNESCO Humid Tropic Symposium in 1965 . The lower pitchers of Nepenthes lowii are very similar to those of N. macfarlanei ( N. macfarlanei also forms villi on the underside of the pot lid).
Systematics
Nepenthes lowii is closely related to Nepenthes ephippiata , whose pitchers are consistently very similar to the air pitchers of N. lowii . In 1928 the botanist Benedictus Hubertus Danser drew attention to the similarities between the two species. The jugs of Nepenthes ephippiata differ from Nepenthes lowii in that they have a much larger lid with longer and finer villi on the inside, and the peristoma in N. ephippiata is much more pronounced and the neck of the pitcher is rather weak.
Hybrids
Of Nepenthes lowii two natural hybrids are known Nepenthes x trusmadiensis ( Nepenthes lowii x Nepenthes macrophylla ) and Nepenthes x bruneiensis ( Nepenthes lowii x Nepenthes stenophylla ).
literature
- Guido J. Braem: Carnivorous Plants. Species and culture. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1992, ISBN 3-89440-014-5 .
- Peter D'Amato: The Savage Garden. Cultivating Carnivorous Plants. Ten-Speed-Press, Berkeley CA 1998, ISBN 0-89815-915-6
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Matthew Jebb, Martin Cheek: A Skeletal Revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae). In: Blumea. Vol. 42, 1997, ISSN 0006-5196 , pp. 1–106, here pp. 55–57, digital version (PDF; 8.8 MB) .
- ↑ a b Description of N. lowii (English and Latin, very detailed)
- ↑ Peter D'Amato: The Savage Garden. 1998, p. 270.
- ^ IUCN list
- ^ Bertram E. Smythies: The distribution and ecology of pitcher-plants (Nepenthes) in Sarawak. In: Symposium on ecological research in humid tropics vegetation. UNESCO Symposium, June - July 1963, Kuching, Sarawak. Tokyo Press, Itabashi - Tokyo 1965, pp. 170-178.
- ↑ Shigeo Kurata: Nepenthes of Borneo, Singapore and Sumatra (= Gardens' Bulletin. Vol. 26, No. 2, ISSN 0374-7859 ). Government Printing Office, Singapore 1973.
- ^ Benedictus H. Danser : The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies. = Contributions à l'étude de la flores des Indes Néerlandaises. XV. In: Bulletin de Jardin de Botanique. Series 3, Vol. 9, No. 3-4, 1928, ISSN 0852-8756 , pp. 249-438.
- ^ Charles Clarke: Nepenthes of Borneo. Natural History Publishing et al., Kota Kinabalu et al. 1997, ISBN 983-812-015-4 .