Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 21:56:38 +0200 From: Olivier Marthaler <o.marthaler@eurospan.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2079$foo@default> Subject: Re: Nep. "Kemiri"
> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 20:27:19 +0000
> From: Mike V <mvogl@webaccess.net>
> Subject: N. murduensis & N. spec nova 'Kemiri'
> I just got some beautiful healthy little plants of Nepenthes
murduensis and N. species nova "Kemiri".
> I have heard that N. murduensis might actually be a hybrid of N.
> reinwardtiana x N. tentaculata, and N. 'Kemiri' might be a N. maxima
> form. Does anyone know anything about this?
> Anyone know anything about the plants themselves? Appearance,
> environment?
Hi Mike and everybody,
Concerning Nepenthes "Kemiri", here's I hope some of the information
you're looking for.
On 20th July 1996, an Indonesian expedition plus my wife and I reached
the top of Gunung Kemiri, in northern Sumatra. There we were hoping to
find Nepenthes Densiflora (which actually grows a few km more
northerly). At the altitude of 2'600 to 2'900, we found lots of
beautiful plants growing both in the higher part of a mossy forest and
in a more open area with peat, rhodos, sorts of pine-trees and so on.
The plants are definitely epiphitic and some of them are more than 5
meters tall.
That mountain had just been made accessible to westeners and absolutely
no plant killers and/or nature profaners-polluters had got there before
us. Absolutely no human signs but a very discreet track made by
villagers, in the lower part of the mountain. It is a NATIONAL PARK and
should remain so.
As for the pitchers, sorry taxonomists! we didn't bring back
"scientific" material, as we're no experts in that field and didn't
think about it on time! The lower pitchers are bright red and the upper
generally either yellow-green, or green or yellow. They do look like
giant Nep Singalana (many of them approx. 30 cm tall). I think some
people who have seen the pictures and have visited mountains nearby (eg
Gunung Bandahara) think it is (closely related to) Nep. Diatas (see Jebb
and Cheek), though the pitchers of mature plants are much bigger.
Climbing Gunung Kemiri, we also found Nep. Mikkei and Nep. Spectabilis,
but none of them above 2000 meters, so I don't think there has been any
hybridation with them. As for Nepenthes Maxima (what you have heard...),
I also strongly doubt about it. Sorry I have no homepage to show you
pictures of that extraordinary plant but just go to Jean DeWitte's page
for a peep:
http://home.t-online.de/home/j.dewitte!
We brought back loads of seeds which we then sent to growers in at least
10 countries to make sure this plant would be in cultivation and then
not attract the greed of an unscrupulous collector. As I've just seen
your mail, it seems to be successful: GREAT!
Other comments or questions are always welcome!
Take good care of yourself and your plants,
Olivier Marthaler
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:33 PST