Large-leaved Pitcher Plant
Nepenthes macrophylla
113 vaaiga
Taxonomy
| Aiga: | Nepenthaceae |
|---|---|
| Genus: | Nepenthes |
| Poloaiga: | Caryophyllales |
Vaaiga lautele
Nepenthes macrophylla is a highland tropical pitcher plant known with certainty only from the summit area of Mount Trusmadi in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. It is named for its very large leaves and produces robust, almost woody pitchers up to 35 cm tall with a strongly ribbed, toothed peristome.
Nepenthes macrophylla is a climbing plant whose stem can exceed 10 m in length. As its name suggests, its leaves are exceptionally large: the leathery blade reaches up to 60 cm long and 20 cm wide, on a petiole up to 15 cm long, and the leaves may be twice as long as those of its closest relatives.
The pitchers are robust and almost woody in texture. Rosette and lower pitchers are shortly cylindrical, narrowing around the middle, and can reach 35 cm high by 15 cm wide, with a pair of fringed wings down the front. The cylindrical peristome is up to 15 mm wide and carries highly developed ribs that end in prominent downward-pointing teeth. The lid is broad and ovate. Upper pitchers are more cylindrical, with reduced wings. Yellow-pitchered plants are more common than red-pitchered ones.
The species is most closely related to N. edwardsiana and N. villosa, but its peristome ribs and teeth are shorter and more widely spaced, its mouth is more oblique and its lid is broader. Whereas those two species grow mainly on ultramafic soils around Mount Kinabalu, N. macrophylla grows near the summit of Mount Trusmadi, which is mostly sandstone. Like all Nepenthes, plants are either male or female.
Fa'amatalaga Fa'afanua
Itulagi: Mount Trusmadi, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (endemic)
Sone o le Tau: Tropical upper montane (2,200-2,642 m); cultivated under glass as a highland species
Mossy montane forest along ridge tops near the summit of Mount Trusmadi, between about 2,200 m and the summit at 2,642 m (7,200-8,670 ft). The vegetation is dominated by Leptospermum and Rhododendron, and the plant grows both on the ground and as an epiphyte. Temperatures swing widely between day and night, from a noon maximum of around 30°C (86°F) to a night minimum of about 5°C (41°F). Humidity is always high, and in the late evening the summit is often in mist and cloud. It grows alongside N. lowii and N. tentaculata.
Uiga Faaletino
Fuamatua: Stem over 10 m; leaves up to 60 cm; pitchers up to 35 cm (14 in) tall
Fuafuaga o le Tuputupu ae: Slow
Ituaiga Mailei: Pitfall Trap
The pitchers work as pitfall traps, but N. macrophylla also takes part in an unusual relationship with the mountain treeshrew (Tupaia montana). The lid exudes a sugary reward and the pitcher offers a perch; treeshrews feed on the exudate and defecate into the pitcher, supplying the plant with nitrogen.
A 2010 study by Chin, Moran and Clarke found that only pitchers with large mouths and concave, elongated lids held at roughly right angles to the mouth capture droppings, and that the distance from the lid's nectar glands to the front of the mouth matches the head and body length of a treeshrew. The same adaptation was found in N. lowii and N. rajah. The color of the underside of the lid also matches the green and blue wavebands that treeshrews see best.
Taiala Tausiga
Malamalama Manaomia
Bright, diffuse light. A brightly lit greenhouse or growing chamber works; artificial light can be adequate if it is bright enough.
Bright light year round; no seasonal rest aso uma
Suavai Manaomia
Ituaiga: Purified water (distilled, reverse osmosis or rain) is safest
Metotia: Water from above to keep the mix evenly moist and let it drain. Do not keep the pot standing in a tray: Nepenthes kept in standing water often develop dwarfed root systems.
Fa'atele: Often enough that the mix never dries out
Susū: Very high: at least 60%, ideally near 90%
Eleele
A 50:50 mix of long-fiber sphagnum moss and perlite is a good starting point; pure sphagnum or sphagnum with other coarse aggregates also works. Inspect the roots after a year and change the mix if they are not spreading through it.
pH: Acidic (sphagnum based)
vevela
Summer: Days 77-86°F (25-30°C), nights 18°F (10°C) cooler
Taumalulu: Same as summer; cool nights all year
Fafaga
Fa'atele: Optional; any fertilizer at most once or twice a month into pitchers
Some growers pour a small amount of orchid or epiphyte fertilizer into the pitchers once or twice a month, starting small and watching the effect. It is optional.
Fa'aliga
Metotia: Stem cuttings of about two leaves each, with the leaves trimmed to a third and the cutting 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 at the same time and should be sown immediately, as it loses viability quickly.
Faigata: Difficult
Fautuaga mo Amata
This is a rare, critically endangered highland species. Grow it only where you can give cool nights and constant high humidity, and buy only nursery-propagated plants.
Fa'afitauli
Leaf edges burning and tendrils failing to form pitchers: humidity too low. Plant standing still for long periods: check that nights are cool enough, and inspect the roots.
Fautuaga Faatupulaia
No pitchers? Raise the humidity Troubleshooting
When humidity is too low, leaf edges burn and tendrils fail to produce pitchers. Aim for at least 60% relative humidity, ideally closer to 90%.
Water from above General
Keep the mix moist by watering from the top and letting it drain. A pot left standing in water tends to stunt Nepenthes roots.
Cool nights are not optional Advanced
On Mount Trusmadi the temperature falls from about 30°C at noon to about 5°C at night. In cultivation, aim for days of 25-30°C and nights about 10°C cooler.
Mea Moni Manaia
The name macrophylla means 'large-leaved'; its leaf blades reach 60 cm.
Its pitchers are shaped to collect the droppings of mountain treeshrews that feed on sugary secretions from the lid.
It hybridizes in the wild only with N. lowii; the hybrid, N. × trusmadiensis, has some of the largest pitchers of any Bornean Nepenthes.
It is thought to be the most endangered highland Nepenthes of Borneo, threatened by over-collection and damage by visitors.
The IUCN Red List classes it as Critically Endangered (Clarke et al., 2000, assessment T39671A10255115).
Talafaasolopito
Plants on Mount Trusmadi were known long before the species was described, and were first lumped with N. villosa; in his 1976 guide Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu, Shigeo Kurata listed Trusmadi as an expected locality of that species. Later the plant was treated as a form of N. edwardsiana. Johannes Marabini collected it in March 1983, and in 1987 he described it as a subspecies of N. edwardsiana. In 1983 Marabini and John Briggs also found the natural hybrid with N. lowii, which Marabini described as N. × trusmadiensis.
Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek raised the taxon to species rank as Nepenthes macrophylla in their 1997 monograph "A skeletal revision of Nepenthes" in the journal Blumea, a view supported by Charles Clarke. Jan Schlauer's Carnivorous Plant Database has treated it as a possible synonym of N. villosa.
Fuafuaga
- Nepenthes macrophylla, Wikipedia
- Nepenthes, Wikipedia
- Nepenthes: species of Borneo, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
- 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)
Faʻamatalaga e masani ona fesiligia
Avanoa mo le Fa'atau
Ituaiga Fa'atatau
Tumau Fa'afou ile Large-leaved Pitcher Plant
Fa'asoa e maua fautuaga tau tausiga, ta'iala tuputupu a'e, ma fa'afouga fa'apitoa i Large-leaved Pitcher Plant ma isi laau toto.