Re: Natural hybrid of Nepenthes (rafflesiana x gracilis)

SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de
Tue, 29 Oct 1996 10:44:05

Dear TANWK,

> I am curious to find out who is the person to be credited with the
> discovery of
> the natural hybrid (not the cultivar) of N. rafflesiana x N. gracilis.

Apparently (as you yourself wrote below) Phillipps & Lamb, albeit
under a wrong name.

> The cultivar or man-made hybrid is credited to John Dominy in 1862.

Apparently, no such plant was ever produced by Dominy.
N.* dominiana Veitch (G.C.1862:398) is in fact _N.rafflesiana *
hirsuta_.

The one who was closest to what you are looking for was Court, who
produced several hybrids involving both parents but always at least
one further species:
N.* courtii (+_N.hisuta_)
N.* hybrida maculata elongata nom.illeg. (+_N.hirsuta_)
N.* lyrata (+_N.khasiana_)
N.* rafflesiana pallida (+_N.khasiana_)

> The cultivar is mentioned in Phillips & Lamb's 1996 book "Pitcher-
> plants of Borneo", page 17.

One of the historical faults mentioned already.

> In an earlier article "Pitcher-plants of East Malaysia and Brunei"
> (Nature
> Malaysiana, Vol 13, No 4, Oct 1988), Phillipps & Lamb showed a
> photograph on page 9 entitled "The natural hybrid N. x trichocarpa
> (sic): N. rafflesiana crossed with N. gracilis".

Fine, but N.* trichocarpa is allegedly the hybrid _N.gracilis *
ampullaria_.

> Incidentally, I have seen the natural hybrid in several locations
> within a 150
> kilometres of Singapore, where I live.

Nice.

Kind regards
Jan