> "A Visit to Kinabalu Park" by Perry Malouf. Part two of his saga.
> Photos include N. villosa (could this plant be N. x harryana -
> a hybrid between N. villosa and N. edwardsiana??) and N. lowii.
Ooohh, a wiseguy eh? N. x harryana indeed! The back cover of
the previous CPN clearly shows my Thai friend standing next
to a sign which reads "Nepenthes Villosa Areas". Besides, my
guide TOLD me it was N. villosa. So there. :-)
Okay, we put the jokes aside. Neither the sign nor the most
well-intentioned guide constitute a guarantee. After all, I
took the picture.
I do believe, however, that the photo shows a N. villosa pitcher
and not one of N. x harryana. The shape of the pitcher does not
seem to have any N. edwardsiana components. N. edwardsiana
pitchers are substantially larger (esp. taller) and more tubular
in shape, with a slight "waist" (narrowing) about 1/3 of the way
from the bottom before expanding again. Perhaps the pitcher lid
sitting on top of a "pedestal-continuation" of the peristome aroused
suspicion? The photograph of N. edwardsiana I took indeed shows
such a pedestal on pitchers of that species.
I photographed several N. villosa plants over a fairly large area,
and all the pitchers had the toothed pedestal at the back of the
peristome. And, N. edwardsiana was nowhere to be found in
that vicinity (I understand that some plants may have been
lurking in the woods at a lower elevation, quite a distance away).
All the pitchers of the N. villosas had the same general form as the
one shown in the recent CPN, and I find it hard to believe that all
those plants were really N. harryana.
As a final bit of evidence, I also photographed N. x kinabaluensis which
is N. villosa x N. rajah. This hybrid also had a toothed pedestal at the
back of the peristome, though it was not as pronounced as in N. villosa.
The plant clearly showed components of the parents, and it made sense
that the peristome would have been "leveled out" somewhat by the
N. rajah influence.
I welcome opinions from others who have experience with N. villosa.
(I imagine that international subscribers to CPN have yet to receive the
most recent issue.)
Perry Malouf