Hanging Pitcher Carnivorous Plants (Nepenthes)
This genus with its seventy species and many more hybrids is
essentially tropical and as such requires high humidity and warm weather
to produce good pitchers.
Nepenthes have been put to some very interesting uses, for instance,
natives in tropical areas managed to use this plant to carry water, and
some tribes used the sterile liquid from unopened pitchers to care for
inflamed eyes. Still other natives cooked rice in the pitchers. In
many Nepenthes species the lower pitchers are usually fatter and shorter
and appear quite different from the upper pitchers, which are generally
narrower and longer. This can make identification quite difficult,
especially when for years you have been used to seeing only the lower
pitchers of a particular plant.
A typical form of the Nepenthes is one with a thick stem, of about 10
to 25 milimeter connected to which are leaves which grow to about 45
centimeters. When growing wild the leaves are quite thick and tough, as
is the tendril that attaches the pitcher to the leaf.
Species
Nepenthes Mirabilis - Nepenthes Mirabilis is one of the most common
species, and is native to Borneo, New Guinea and Australia. Nepenthes
Ampullaria - found in Malaysia, Singapore, sumatra, Borneo and New
Guinea, the Ampullaria is known for its short, fat pitchers, which are
generally 10 centimeters across, and coloured with red spots on a cream
background.
Nepenthes Alata - Found in the Philippines and Malaysia, this plant
has pitchers like a slender column.
Nepenthes Albo-marginata - The Albo-marginata is found in Borneo,
Malaysia and Sumatra in the swampy areas, in peatand sandy soil.
Nepenthes Fusca - Found only in Borneo, the Fusca is a highland
species which has very long, slender pitchers of 15 centimeters and 3
centimeters wide.
Nepenthes Gracilis - Borneo, Sumatra, Malaysia and Celebes are the
native area of the Gracilis. This plant has qite a few pitchers;
although these are only 5 centimeters long.
Nepenthes Rajah - Borneo has about thirty of the total seventy
species of Nepenthes. It is by far the most impressive of the list in
terms of its shape, size and colour.
Nepenthes Rafflesiana - The Rafflesiana is quite a common Nepenthes,
found in Borneo, Malaysia, New Guinea, Singapore and Sumatra. It has
light green to beige coloured pitchers with red to burgundy patches.
Nepenthes Sanguinea - the Sanguinea is a highland species found in
Malaysia with pitchers often up to 30 centimeters long.
Care
Many glass houses grow tropical plants in the temperature range of 19
degrees celsius and 25 degrees celsius. This is the ideal temperature
condition for the Nepenthes.
With this degree of moisture-laden air the plant will develop large
pitchers, and grow quite rapidly, with large plants often lengthening by
three or more feet each year.
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