Nepenthes ventricosa
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Nepenthes ventricosa |
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| Blanco |
Nepenthes ventricosa is a carnivorous plant belonging to the genus pitcher plants ( Nepenthes ). It wasfirst describedin 1837 by the Spanish botanist Francisco Manuel Blanco . The specific epithet ventricosa isborrowed fromthe Latin word “ventricosus”, which means “pot-bellied” and alludes to the characteristic shape of the pitchers.
description
Nepenthes ventricosa is an evergreen subshrub that lives either terrestrially or epiphytically and is characterized by its climbing habit. The stems can be up to six meters long. With age the plant lignifies and often sprouts numerous young shoots from the wood. The alternate leaves of Nepenthes ventricosa are narrow-lanceolate. They have a smooth, leathery surface and can adapt their surface volume to the light conditions of their surroundings (the sunnier it gets, the more compact the leaf blades are).
The jugs of Nepenthes ventricosa are funnel-shaped in the upper third, but conspicuously pouch-shaped in the lower part. The peristome is quite narrow and has very typical “jagged edges”, similar to the outer edge of a gear . The lid is tongue-shaped and usually inclined sharply backwards. The color of the pitchers depends on the light; in full sun they turn scarlet red.
Inflorescences and flowers
Nepenthes ventricosa is dioecious, separate sexes ( dioecious ), so the female and male flowers are on different plants. Like most of its relatives, Nepenthes ventricosa also develops paniculate inflorescences . The unisexual flowers have five bracts , which can be greenish or - in full sunlight - dark brown.
distribution
Nepenthes ventricosa is mostly native to Southeast Asia , especially the Philippines and Malaysia . It lives in mist-shrouded mountain forests at altitudes of up to 2000 meters.
Nepenthes ventricosa as an ornamental plant
Because of their modesty, hybrids of Nepenthes ventricosa are popular ornamental and collector plants. They are offered in many hardware stores and garden centers either as a young plant in a pot or as a pinched traffic light plant. Mostly these are Nepenthes ventricosa x alata , although the plants are mostly labeled as "pure" Nepenthes ventricosa or Nepenthes alata .
literature
- Adrian Slack: Carnivorous plants. 1st edition, 3rd impression. MIT Press, Cambridge MA 2000, ISBN 0-262-69089-6 , p. 85.
- Guido J. Braem: Carnivorous Plants. Species and culture. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1992, ISBN 3-89440-014-5 .
- Nepenthes ventricosa
