Low's Pitcher Plant
Nepenthes lowii
151 malingaliro
Taxonomy
| Banja: | Nepenthaceae |
|---|---|
| Mtundu: | Nepenthes |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
Mwachidule
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.
Zambiri za Geographic
Native Region: Mountains of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, Borneo (endemic)
Zanyengo: 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.
Makhalidwe Athupi
Kukula Kwambiri: Upper pitchers up to 28 cm (11 in) tall; lower pitchers up to 10 cm; stem over 10 m
Mlingo wa Kukula: Slow
Mtundu wa Msampha: 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.
Kalozera Wosamalira
Zofunikira Zowala
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 tsiku ndi tsiku
Zofunikira za Madzi
Mtundu: Purified water (distilled, reverse osmosis or rain) is safest
Njira: 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.
pafupipafupi: Often enough that the mix never dries out
Chinyezi: Very high: at least 60%, ideally near 90%
Nthaka
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)
Kutentha
Chilimwe: Days 77-86°F (25-30°C), nights 18°F (10°C) cooler
Zima: Same as summer; cool nights all year
Kudyetsa
pafupipafupi: 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.
Kufalitsa
Njira: 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.
Zovuta: Difficult
Malangizo Oyamba
Be patient: the famous waisted pitchers come only on mature, climbing plants. Keep nights cool and humidity high.
Kusaka zolakwika
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.
Malangizo Kukula
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.
Zochititsa chidwi
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).
Chikumbutso
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.
Malamulo
- Nepenthes lowii, Wikipedia
- Nepenthes: species of Borneo, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
- Clarke et al. (2009), Tree shrew lavatories: a novel nitrogen sequestration strategy in a tropical pitcher plant, Biology Letters 5: 632-635
- Chin, Moran & Clarke (2010), Trap geometry in three giant montane pitcher plant species from Borneo is a function of tree shrew body size, New Phytologist 186: 461-470
- Nepenthes: basic cultivation, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
- Nepenthes: advanced cultivation, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
Mafunso ofunsidwa nthawi zambiri
Likupezeka Kuti Mugule
Mitundu Yogwirizana
Khalani Osinthidwa Low's Pitcher Plant
Lembetsani kuti mulandire malangizo osamalira, maupangiri akukulira, ndi zosintha zenizeni Low's Pitcher Plant ndi zomera zina zodya nyama.