nepenthes of Borneo
jean de witte (j.dewitte@t-online.de)
Mon, 27 May 96 10:01 +0100
I just received the book on Nepenthes of Borneo. Super service form the
people in Malaysia: just a fax and a card number, and delivery in less
than two weeks. Reading through it I came to the "new species" n.
murudensis. This gives me some problems. Contrary to the statement
there is n. reinwardtiana on the mountain. We found them exhibiting the
telltale twin eyes on the ridge going up to Chuch Camp (about three
hours below the summit) at elevations of 2100 meter. This altitude
surprises us at the time. From that point on and up to the top of the
first ridge there is a constant presence of what has to be a hybrid
between reinwardtiana and tentaculata (or maybe muluensis, growing less
dense but nevertheless there). The plants have characteristics of both
parents. Once over the ridge going down to Church the "new species "
appears in open clearings. The similarities with tentaculata are
striking, the pitchers however grow to 35 cm. On the plateau going to
the summit the plants are growing in the grass, just building rosettes
as there is nothing to attach themselves. Also present are lowii and
muluensis. The seeds have the same growing rate of tentaculata (very
slow), and I realy do doubt if this species is not just an extreme form
of tenta. I should scan in pictures and try to post them. Might take
some time, as I am busy for the moment. Anybody interested? John