Nepenthes lowii Hook.f

국표에 없다.

Nepenthes lowii /nɪˈpɛnθiːz ˈloʊiaɪ/, or Low's pitcher-plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo. It is named after Hugh Low, who discovered it on Mount Kinabalu. This species is perhaps the most unusual in the genus, being characterised by its strongly constricted upper pitchers, which bear a greatly reduced peristome and a reflexed lid with numerous bristles on its lower surface.

Botanical history

Discovery and naming

Nepenthes lowii was discovered in March 1851 by British colonial administrator and naturalist Hugh Low during his first ascent of Mount Kinabalu. Low wrote the following account of his discovery:

A little way further we came upon a most extraordinary Nepenthes, of, I believe, a hitherto unknown form, the mouth being oval and large, the neck exceedingly contracted so as to appear funnel-shaped, and at right angles to the body of the pitcher, which was large, swollen out laterally, flattened above and sustained in an horizontal position by the strong prolongation of the midrib of the plant as in other species. It is a very strong growing kind and absolutely covered with its interesting pitchers, each of which contains little less than a pint of water and all of them were full to the brim, so admirably were they sustained by the supporting petiole. The plants were generally upwards of 40 ft long, but I could find no young ones nor any flowers, not even traces of either.

The type specimen of N. lowii, designated as Low s.n., was collected by Hugh Low on Mount Kinabalu and is deposited at the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K).

Nepenthes lowii was formally described[note a] in 1859 by Joseph Dalton Hooker.[2] Hooker's original description and illustration were reproduced in Spenser St. John's Life in the Forests of the Far East, published in 1862. St. John wrote the following account of N. lowii on Mount Kinabalu:

We soon came upon the magnificent pitcher-plant, the Nepenthes Lowii, which Mr. Low was anxious to obtain. We could find no young plants, but took cuttings, which the natives said would grow. [...] We at last reached a narrow, rocky ridge, covered with brushwood, but with thousands of plants of the beautiful Nepenthes Lowii growing among them. [...] We sent our men on next morning to wait for us at the cave, while we stayed behind to collect specimens of the Nepenthes Lowii and the Nepenthes Villosa. The former is, in my opinion, the loveliest of them all, and its shape is most elegant. [...] The outside colour of the pitchers is a bright pea-green, the inside dark mahogany; the lid is green, while the glandular are mahogany-coloured. A very elegant claret jug might be made of this shape.

In subsequent years, N. lowii was featured in a number of publications by eminent botanists, such as Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1870), Joseph Dalton Hooker (1873), Frederick William Burbidge (1882), Odoardo Beccari (1886), Ernst Wunschmann (1891), Otto Stapf (1894), Harry James Veitch (1897), Jacob Gijsbert Boerlage (1900), and Elmer Drew Merrill (1921). However, most of these publications made only passing mention of N. lowii. The first major taxonomic treatment was that of Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau in 1895, who placed N. lowii in its own subgroup (Retiferae) on account of its unusual pitcher morphology.

A revised description and illustration of N. lowii were published in John Muirhead Macfarlane's 1908 monograph, "Nepenthaceae". Macfarlane also wrote about N. lowii in the Journal of the Linnean Society in 1914 and The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture in 1919.

In 1927, a new illustration of N. lowii was published in an article by Dutch botanist B. H. Danser in the journal De Tropische Natuur. The following year Danser provided a further emended Latin diagnosis[note b] and botanical description of N. lowii in his seminal monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies".

Description

Stem and leaves

Nepenthes lowii is a climbing plant. The stem may attain a length of more than 10 m and is up to 20 mm in diameter. Internodes are cylindrical in cross section and up to 8 cm long.

 

A rosette plant with lower pitchers

The leaves of this species are coriaceous in texture. The lamina or leaf blade is petiolate, oblong-lanceolate in shape, and up to 30 cm long by 9 cm wide. It has a rounded apex and an abruptly contracted base. The petiole is canaliculate and up to 14 cm long. It forms a flat sheath that clasps the stem for two-thirds to four-fifths of its circumference. Three to four longitudinal veins are present on either side of the midrib. Pinnate veins run straight or obliquely with respect to the lamina. Tendrils are up to 20 cm long and are not usually curled.

Pitchers

The rosette and lower pitchers are bulbous in the lower part and ventricose in the middle, becoming wider towards the mouth. They are smaller than their aerial counterparts, reaching only 10 cm high by 4 cm wide. Lower pitchers are rarely seen, as the plant quickly enters the climbing stage. A pair of fringed wings runs down the front of each pitcher, although these are often reduced and only present in the upper portion of the pitcher cup. The peristome is cylindrical in cross section and widens towards the rear. It is up to 12 mm wide and bears prominent teeth and ribs. The inner portion of the peristome accounts for around 62% of its total cross-sectional surface length. On the inner surface, the glandular region covers the basal half of the pitcher; the waxy zone is reduced. The pitcher lid or operculum is approximately orbiculate in shape. On its underside it possesses a number of very dense fleshy bristles measuring up to 2 cm in length. Other than these distinctive structures, the lid has no appendages. An unbranched spur is inserted near the base of the lid.

 

An upper pitcher

The upper pitchers of N. lowii are very distinctive, being globose in the lower part, strongly constricted in the middle, and highly infundibular above. Aerial pitchers are relatively large, growing up to 28 cm high by 10 cm wide. Wings are reduced to ribs in upper pitchers and the peristome is present only as a series of ridges on the edge of the mouth. The inner surface of the pitcher is glandular throughout and has no waxy zone. The vaulted lid is reflexed away from the mouth and is oblong-ovate in shape. It is up to 15 cm long by 9 cm wide and lacks appendages. Numerous bristles, reaching up to 2 cm in length, are present on the lower surface of the lid. As in lower pitchers, the spur is unbranched. The upper pitchers of N. lowii are extremely rigid and almost woody in texture. After drying, the pitchers retain their shape better than those of any other species in the genus.

Inflorescence and indumentum

Nepenthes lowii has a racemose inflorescence. The peduncle reaches 20 cm in length, while the rachis measures up to 25 cm. Partial peduncles are two-flowered, up to 20 mm long, and lack bracts. Sepals are oblong in shape and up to 5 mm long. A study of 570 pollen samples taken from three herbarium specimens (J.H.Adam 2406, J.H.Adam 2395 and SAN 23341, collected at an altitude of 1700–2000 m) found the mean pollen diameter to be 33.0 μm (SE = 0.2; CV = 7.8%).

Most parts of the plant are virtually glabrous. However, an indumentum of short brown hairs is present on inflorescences, developing parts, and the edges of rosette leaves.

Nepenthes lowii - Wikipedia

 

https://youtu.be/QyPduM3TcK8?list=TLPQMDYwNTIwMjOcsQE_yR_dWg