Nepenthes in Sci. Amer.

Walter L Greenwood (wlg1+@pitt.edu)
Fri, 18 Mar 1994 16:50:15 -0500 (EST)

The current (April '94) issue of Scientific American contains an
enormous advertising section all about Malaysia. On page M-57 (page # is
not marked), there is a small photograph of a rather non-spectacular
green upper pitcher - looks like N. reinwardtiana or alata or something
similar. (anyone care to positively ID it?) Anyway, the thing that
strikes me as curious is why they chose such blah picture when even a
common weed like N. rafflesiana would have been much more impressive.
Sort of like someone insisted that Nepenthes be illustrated, and someone
else didn't want it to attract too much attention.

I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I just can't forget
that this is the same government who sold Pig Hill out of Sabah Park for
development, denied botanists and collectors any chance to rescue the N.
rajah, then dynamited the hillside to build a golf course or a parking
lot or whatever the hell it is now, destroying not only hundreds of N.
rajah, but also a colony of N. burbidgeae and the huge, gorgeous, and
probably now extinct, hybrid between the two. If anyone out there knows
any more than this about what really happened there, please let us in on
it.

Whew!

Honestly, I only meant to let you know about the picture. A few pix of
rafflesia, too. In the same issue is an article on brain imaging
technology featuring some MR and PET images from "my" machines at here
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

All you fellow Miata owners out there: Top-down weather is on it's way.
Spring cleaning time in the greenhouse!

Walter