Low's Pitcher Plant

Taxonomie

Rodina:	Nepenthaceae
Rod:	Nepenthes
Objednávka:	Caryophyllales

Přehled

Nepenthes lowii is a highland tropical pitcher plant endemic to the mountains of Borneo. Perhaps the most unusual species in the genus, it produces strongly waisted upper pitchers with almost no peristome and a reflexed, bristly lid, which collect the droppings of tree shrews rather than trapping many insects.

Nepenthes lowii is a climbing plant whose stem may exceed 10 m in length and 20 mm in diameter. The leathery leaves are up to 30 cm long and 9 cm wide.

The plant has two very different kinds of pitcher. The rosette and lower pitchers, up to 10 cm high, are typical of the genus, with a toothed peristome; they are rarely seen because the plant soon starts climbing. The upper pitchers are globe-shaped below, strongly constricted in the middle and widely funnel-shaped above, growing up to 28 cm high and 10 cm wide. In them the peristome is reduced to a series of ridges on the rim, the inner wall has no waxy zone, and the large vaulted lid is held back away from the mouth. Its underside bears numerous bristles up to 2 cm long. Upper pitchers are extremely rigid, almost woody, and keep their shape after drying better than those of any other species.

N. lowii is thought to be most closely related to N. ephippiata, which has less constricted upper pitchers and short tubercles instead of long bristles under the lid. Like all Nepenthes, plants are either male or female.

Geografické informace

Rodný region: Mountains of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, Borneo (endemic)

Klimatické zóny: Tropical upper montane (1,650-2,600 m); cultivated under glass as a highland species

N. lowii grows on isolated peaks at 1,650-2,600 m (5,400-8,500 ft), including Mount Kinabalu, Mount Tambuyukon, Mount Alab and Mount Trusmadi in Sabah; Mount Mulu, Mount Murud and Bukit Batu Lawi in Sarawak; and Bukit Pagon in Brunei. It grows on the ground and as an epiphyte in nutrient-poor upper montane habitats: mossy forest and stunted ridge-top vegetation, often in thick peat moss over ultramafic, sandstone, granite or limestone rock. Mount Mulu, where the summit vegetation rarely exceeds a metre in height, is now the easiest place to see it.

Fyzikální vlastnosti

Velikost pro dospělé: Upper pitchers up to 28 cm (11 in) tall; lower pitchers up to 10 cm; stem over 10 m

Tempo růstu: Slow

Typ pasti: Pitfall Trap

Pitchers of young plants follow the usual Nepenthes pattern and catch arthropod prey. The upper pitchers of mature plants lack the features that usually trap insects and catch very little prey. Instead, the plant produces a white, sugary secretion among the bristles under the lid. Mountain tree shrews (Tupaia montana) feed on this exudate and then defecate into the pitcher.

A 2009 study by Clarke and colleagues, which coined the term 'tree shrew lavatories', found that tree shrew droppings supply between 57 and 100 percent of the nitrogen in the leaves of mature plants. A 2010 study showed that the shape and size of the pitcher mouth match the body size of the tree shrew, an adaptation shared with N. rajah and N. macrophylla.

Průvodce péčí

Požadavky na světlo

Bright, diffuse light. A bright greenhouse or growing chamber works; artificial light can be adequate if it is bright enough.

Bright light year round; no seasonal rest denní

Požadavky na vodu

Typ: Purified water (distilled, reverse osmosis or rain) is safest

Metoda: Water from above to keep the mix evenly moist and let it drain. Do not keep the pot standing in water, which dwarfs Nepenthes roots.

Frekvence: Often enough that the mix never dries out

Vlhkost: Very high: at least 60%, ideally near 90%

Půda

A 50:50 mix of long-fiber sphagnum moss and perlite is a good starting point; growers also use pure sphagnum or sphagnum with other aggregates. In the wild it often roots in thick peat moss.

pH: Acidic (sphagnum based)

Teplota

Letní: Days 77-86°F (25-30°C), nights 18°F (10°C) cooler

Zima: Same as summer; cool nights all year

Krmení

Frekvence: Optional; any fertilizer at most once or twice a month into pitchers

In the wild mature plants feed mainly on tree shrew droppings rather than insects. In cultivation some growers add a little orchid or epiphyte fertilizer to the pitchers once or twice a month, starting small; it is optional.

Propagace

Metody: Stem cuttings of about two leaves each, with the leaves trimmed to a third, kept in very high humidity; roots usually form within a month or so, though some species take several months. Seed needs a male and a female plant flowering together and should be sown immediately.

Obtížnost: Difficult

Tipy pro začátečníky

Be patient: the famous waisted pitchers come only on mature, climbing plants. Keep nights cool and humidity high.

Odstraňování problémů

Plant does not produce the typical waisted pitchers: young plants make ordinary lower pitchers, and the distinctive upper pitchers appear only once the plant climbs. Burnt leaf edges and pitcherless tendrils: humidity too low.

Tipy pro pěstování

Humidity makes the pitchers Troubleshooting

If leaf edges burn and tendrils stop forming pitchers, raise the humidity to between 60% and 90%.

A true highlander Advanced

N. lowii grows at 1,650-2,600 m. Give days of about 25-30°C and nights around 10°C cooler.

Two kinds of pitcher General

Young plants make small, ordinary lower pitchers up to 10 cm tall. The waisted upper pitchers with a bristly lid appear once the plant starts to climb.

Zajímavá fakta

Mature plants get most of their nitrogen from tree shrew droppings rather than from insects.
The white beads under the lid were once thought to be snail eggs; growers later showed that the plant makes them itself.
Hugh Low wrote that each pitcher held 'little less than a pint of water'.
At least seven natural hybrids involving N. lowii are recorded, including N. × trusmadiensis with N. macrophylla.
Many plants along the Mount Kinabalu summit trail died in the 1997-1998 El Niño drought.
The IUCN Red List classes it as Vulnerable (Clarke et al., 2000, assessment T39669A10250074).

Historie

Hugh Low discovered the species in March 1851 during his first ascent of Mount Kinabalu, describing a 'most extraordinary Nepenthes' with a funnel-shaped mouth and a narrow neck. Joseph Dalton Hooker formally described it in 1859, naming it after Low; the type specimen is at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Spenser St. John reproduced Hooker's description in his 1862 Life in the Forests of the Far East and called it the loveliest of all, suggesting that 'a very elegant claret jug might be made of this shape'.

Günther Beck placed it in a subgroup of its own, Retiferae, in 1895, while B. H. Danser included it in his group Regiae in 1928. Eric Mjöberg recorded it on Mount Murud in 1922, and it has since been found on many other Bornean peaks.

Zdroje

Často kladené otázky

Bright, diffuse light. A bright greenhouse or growing chamber works; artificial light can be adequate if it is bright enough. Počítejte zhruba s Bright light year round; no seasonal rest světla denně.

Purified water (distilled, reverse osmosis or rain) is safest. Water from above to keep the mix evenly moist and let it drain. Do not keep the pot standing in water, which dwarfs Nepenthes roots.

A 50:50 mix of long-fiber sphagnum moss and perlite is a good starting point; growers also use pure sphagnum or sphagnum with other aggregates. In the wild it often roots in thick peat moss. pH půdy: Acidic (sphagnum based).

Dormanci nepotřebuje. Zimní teploty: Same as summer; cool nights all year.

In the wild mature plants feed mainly on tree shrew droppings rather than insects. In cultivation some growers add a little orchid or epiphyte fertilizer to the pitchers once or twice a month, starting small; it is optional. Jak často: Optional; any fertilizer at most once or twice a month into pitchers.

Mountains of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, Borneo (endemic). N. lowii grows on isolated peaks at 1,650-2,600 m (5,400-8,500 ft), including Mount Kinabalu, Mount Tambuyukon, Mount Alab and Mount Trusmadi in Sabah; Mount Mulu, Mount Murud and Bukit Batu Lawi in Sarawak; and Bukit Pagon in Brunei.

Červený seznam IUCN jej hodnotí jako Vulnerable.

Stem cuttings of about two leaves each, with the leaves trimmed to a third, kept in very high humidity; roots usually form within a month or so, though some species take several months. Seed needs a male and a female plant flowering together and should be sown immediately.

Plant does not produce the typical waisted pitchers: young plants make ordinary lower pitchers, and the distinctive upper pitchers appear only once the plant climbs. Burnt leaf edges and pitcherless tendrils: humidity too low.

Lépe se hodí pěstitelům s určitými zkušenostmi, protože jeho podmínky je doma obtížné splnit.

Carnivoras prodává Low's Pitcher Plant v Mexiku. Dostupné rostliny najdete na této stránce.

K dispozici k zakoupení

Nepenthes lowii x ventricosa 'Red'

$350MXN

≈ US$18.97

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