Pitcher plants of southern Peninsular Malaysia

[kuching]

On my second day in southern Peninsular Malaysia (Johor state of Malaysia), I was looking for possible site for fishing....& then we found a secondary forest full of lowland species of pitcher plants.

To me, there was nothing to look at.....all the common lowland species such as Nepenthes ampullaria, N. gracilis & N. rafflesiana (N. mirabilis is rare in Johor).

However, when my friend, Lim found a natural cross hybrid, N. gracilis x N. rafflesiana, my eyes almost "popped out" !!!! Gosh!!! This is VERY VERY RARE hybrid! Lim was too lucky to find it !!!!


The habitat:






N. gracilis.





N. gracilis.





N. gracilis.

[kuching]

N. ampullaria.




There is no red N. ampularia in Peninsular Malaysia. However, I found this pitcher is a bit red....must be caused by the strong sunlight in the open space (of where it grows).




N. rafflesiana.





N. rafflesiana.






The first hybrid that we found is N. x hookeriana:

[kuching]

Then, we found this rare N. gracilis x N. rafflesiana. (The leaf looks like something in between N. gracilis & N. rafflesiana)





N. gracilis x N. rafflesiana.




N. gracilis x N. rafflesiana.






And we also found N. x trichocarpa (N. ampullaria x N. gracilis) - upper pitcher.







N. x trichocarpa - lower pitcher:





N. x trichocarpa





N. x trichocarpa - these lower pitchers are covered by grasses & leaf litter.....so the color is reddish. No idea what caused it to be red in color when it is not exposed to the sunlight. Anyone can explain?






THE END.