23. Nepenthes Lowii HOOK. F., Transact. Linn. Soc., XXII, p. 420, t. LXXI (1858) ; MIQ., Ill., p. 7 (1870) ; HOOK. F.; in D.C., Prodr., XVII, p. 94 (1873) ; BURB., Gard. Chron., 1882, 1, p. 56 (1882) ; BECC., Mal., III, p. 3 (1886) ; WUNSCHM., in ENGL. & PRANTL, Nat. Pflanzenfam., III, 2, p. 260 (1891) ; STAPF, Transact. Linn. Soc., ser. 2, bot., IV, p. 217 (1894) ; BECK, Wien. Ill. Gartenz., 1895, p. 141 (1895) ; VEITCH, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., XXI, p. 234, seq. (1897) ; BOERL., Handl., III, 1, p. 241 (1905) ; MACF., in ENGL., Pflanzenr., IV, 111, p 76 (1908) ; Journ. Linn. Soc., bot., XLII, p. 127 (1915) ; in BAIL., Cycl., IV, p. 2129, ic. 2462, 2 (1919) ; MERR., Bibl. enum. Born., p. 283 (1921) ; DANS., Trop. Nat., XVI, p. 203, ic. 9 (1927).
Icones: Transact. Linn. Soc. XXII, t. LXXI (1859) optima ; Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc., XXI, p. 228 (1897) idem ac praecedens ; ENGL., Pflanzenr., IV, 111, p. 77 (1908) optima ; BAIL., Cycl., IV, ic. 2462, 2 (1919) optima, ascidium 1 ; Trop. Nat., XVI. p. 204 (1927) asc. 1.
Folia mediocria petiolata, lamina lanceolata v. oblonga, nervis longitudinalibus utrinque c. 3, vagina caulis c. 2/3 amplectente ; ascidia rosularum et inferiora ignota ; ascidia superiora magna, parte inferiore globosa, medio valde constricta, os versus infundibuliformia, costis 2 elevatis, ore expanso operculum versus acuto, peristomio 0, operculo oblongo facie inferiore setis crassis longis, prope basin carina crassa obtusa ; inflorescentia racemus longus pedicellis c. 25 mm longis omnibus 2-floris ; indumentum in partibus iuvenilibus parcum tomentosum v. hirsutum, denique subnullum.
Stems climbing, the part with adult leaves cylindrical or obtusely angular, 7 to 10 mm thick, the internodes 1 to 6 cm long. Rosettes and short shoots not known or the latter showing no differences with the climbing ones. Leaves of climbing stems scattered, petiolate, the lamina oblong-lanceolate, 15 to 30 cm long, 6 to 9 cm broad, rounded at the apex, abruptly contracted into the petiole, the petiole 4 to 14 cm long, canaliculate, not or hardly winged, forming a laterally flattened sheath, clasping 2/3 to 4/5 of the stem, pennate nerves running straightly or obliquely towards the margin, irregularly reticulate, the longitudinal ones 3 or 4 on each side, originating from the basal part of the midrib, running parallel in the outer 2/5 part of the lamina ; tendrils 1 to 1 1/2 x as long as the lamina, 2 to 4 mm thick near the lamina, up to 10 mm towards the pitcher. Pitchers of the climbing stems thick-coriaceous or almost woody, very shortly incurved from the hanging end of the tendril, globose or shortly and obliquely ovate in the lower part, 5 to 10 cm wide, then strongly contracted to about 1/3 of its width, infundibuliform towards the mouth, at the top wider than in the lower part, 15 to 25 cm high, with 2 prominent ribs over the whole length ; mouth expanded, oblique, acute towards the lid ; peristome almost none, indicated as a 2 to 5 mm broad, scarcely ribbed rim with a series of marginal glands ; interior surface of the pitcher wholly glandular, the glands very large and not overarched, the interspaces diminished to lines forming irregular polygones, 300 to 400 glands on 1 cm2 smaller in the uppermost part, reduced to small deepened points in the shining surface ; lid broadly-ovate, rounded at the apex, slightly cordate at the base, 9 to 12 cm long, 7 1/2 to 9 cm broad, the margin often involute, the lower surface without real appendages, but broadly and very obtusely keeled in the basal part of the midrib, with very coarse, up to 8 mm long bristles over the whole surface and with scattered, strongly deepened, not rimmed glands ; spur not branched, 1 to 1 1/2 mm thick, inserted close to the lid, ascending from the back rib of the pitcher, attenuate. Male inflorescence a raceme, the peduncle 10 to 15 cm, the axis 15 to 25 cm long, densely flowered ; pedicels all of them 2-flowered and bractless, the lower ones about 20 mm long, the upper ones little shorter. Tepals oblong, 4 to 5 mm long. Staminal column about 4 mm long, the anthers included, which are situated in 1 1/2 whorl. (Female inflorescence almost like the male one. Ovary sessile. Fruit 20 to 22 mm long, oblong). Indumentum sparse, the stems glabrous from the beginning, the leaves very densely tomentose when very young, soon quite glabrous, the margin, the underside of the midrib and the tendril excepted, which are often very shortly hairy when adult ; pitchers mostly tomentose towards the mouth when very young, quite glabrous when adult ; inflorescences and tepals outside rather densely appressedly stellate-tomentose, staminal column shortly stellate-hairy at the base, ovary densely appressedly hairy, fruit sparingly hairy. Colour of herbarium specimens fallow-dun to red-brown in different hues. (Description after all the specimens seen by the author, the fruit after MACFARLANE, the parts between brackets after the plate of HOOKER.)
BORNEO. British North Borneo: Mt. Kinabalu, 2100 m, 1892, HAVILAND 1695, H. S. M. (m) ; IX 1913, H. S. M. (0) H. B. (0) ; Sarawak: Ulu Limbang, Bt. Lawai, 28 V 1911, H. S. M. (0) ; Southern to Eastern Division: North-eastern slope of the Bt. Batoe Tiban, 1926, MJÖBERG, after oral communication, not collected.
N. Lowii was only known from Mt. Kinabalu up to the present, but now it is proved to occur also on 2 other mountains in north-western Borneo. The elevation on which it grows is only known from Mt. Kinabalu, varying there between 1500 and 2500 m. The variability of this species seems to be very small.