New Caledonian Pitcher Plant
Nepenthes vieillardii
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Taxonomie
| Famille: | Nepenthaceae |
|---|---|
| Genre: | Nepenthes |
| Commande: | Caryophyllales |
Aperçu
Nepenthes vieillardii is a tough, scrambling pitcher plant endemic to New Caledonia, the most easterly range of any Nepenthes. It grows in open shrubland on mineral-rich soils and is known for its red to green lower pitchers and small green upper pitchers.
Nepenthes vieillardii is a scrambling to climbing plant, in general a tough, shrubby scrambler. Robert Gibson, describing wild plants, recorded stems up to about 5 m long, sessile, leathery leaves 7 to 25 cm long and 1.5 to 5 cm wide, and tendrils about one and a half times the length of the leaf. The internodes are short, 0.5 to 4 cm, so the leaves of these slow-growing plants are crowded towards the stem tips.
Lower pitchers are 8 to 20 cm tall and 3 to 4 cm wide, globose in the lower part and funnel shaped towards the mouth, with two fringed wings, a narrow cylindrical peristome and an ovate lid. They range from green with red dappling inside to fully red-purple, even in shade. Upper pitchers are small, 3 to 9 cm tall, mostly green, often with a red-black peristome and irregular red mottling inside, although Gibson also saw red-mottled and hairy green forms with upper pitchers to 20 cm. Flowers are red, borne on a raceme up to 50 cm tall that is held upright above the foliage; dead flower stalks are often retained, and Gibson compared them to candles. As in all Nepenthes, plants are male or female.
Four varieties have been named (deplanchei, humilis, minima and montrouzieri). Danser regarded the two described by Dubard as no more than extreme forms of the species.
Informations géographiques
région natale: New Caledonia (endemic); commonest in the south, also recorded from the Isle of Pines
Zones climatiques: Tropical, sea level to about 900 m; grown under glass outside the tropics
N. vieillardii is locally common in southern New Caledonia, where it is part of the maquis, an open shrubland on the iron-, manganese- and nickel-rich rocks of the Massif du Sud, an uplifted slab of oceanic crust covering about 40% of the island. It has been seen at Mont des Koghis and the Rivière Bleue park, and reported from Mont Dore, the southern edge of Lake Yaté, the Isle of Pines and the Koniambo massif. It usually grows in dry-surfaced, rocky soil, often in gullies, scrambling over the ground and sometimes covering several square metres; less often it climbs over shrubs. Plants occupy only a small fraction of the seemingly suitable sites. Early French accounts recorded it from plains beside ponds to hills at about 800 m on ferruginous, arid soils, and it is known to about 900 m.
Caractéristiques physiques
Taille adulte: Scrambling stems to about 5 m; lower pitchers 8-20 cm (3-8 in) tall
Taux de croissance: Slow
Type de piège: Pitfall Trap
The pitchers are pitfall traps borne on the leaf tendrils. Lower pitchers have two fringed wings down the front and a narrow peristome, and in both pitcher types the lower part of the inner wall is glandular. In the wild the pitchers often hold only a small amount of very viscous fluid containing the identifiable remains of ants and beetles. The pitchers are also a nursery: mosquitoes of the species Tripteroides caledonicus breed in them.
Guide d'entretien
Besoins en lumière
Bright, diffuse sunlight. Artificial lighting can be enough if it is bright. Windowsills and outdoor settings outside the tropics are usually unsuitable because the air is too dry, so most growers use a humid greenhouse or growing chamber. In the wild it grows mostly in open, exposed shrubland.
Bright light year round; no seasonal rest tous les jours
Besoins en eau
Taper: Purified water (distilled, reverse osmosis or rain) is safest
Méthode: Water from above and let the excess drain. Plants left standing in trays often develop dwarfed root systems.
Fréquence: Keep the mix moist; frequent watering suits an airy, well drained mix
Humidité: High: at least 60%, ideally near 90%
Sol
Start with a 50:50 mix of long-fiber sphagnum moss and perlite. Match the mix to your conditions: in a very humid setting with frequent watering an almost pure aggregate mix works, while a brighter, drier setting needs more sphagnum to hold water. After about a year, knock the plant out of its pot and check that the roots are spreading through the mix.
pH: Acidic (sphagnum based)
Température
Été: Days 86-93°F (30-34°C); nights about 14°F cooler
Hiver: Same as summer; no winter rest
Alimentation
Fréquence: Optional; fertilizer at most once or twice a month into pitchers
Optional. If you want to fertilize, pour a small amount of orchid or epiphyte fertilizer directly into the pitchers once or twice a month, starting small and watching the effect. Plants that catch insects need nothing more, and many growers never fertilize Nepenthes.
Propagation
Méthodes: Stem cuttings: cut a green stem into segments with about two leaves each, trim each leaf to about a third of its size, bury the lower half in the mix and keep the pot in a closed bag at 100% humidity. Roots usually form within a month or so. Cuttings made under water root better. Seed needs a male and a female plant flowering at the same time; the long, threadlike seed should be sown immediately.
Difficulté: Moderate
Conseils pour débutants
Be patient: this is a slow-growing, compact scrambler. Give it bright light, warmth and high humidity, and water from above.
Dépannage
Leaf edges burning and tendrils failing to form pitchers: humidity is too low. Small plant with a weak root system: the pot has been left standing in water. Roots not exploring the mix after a year: change the mix. Slow growth is normal for this species.
Conseils de culture
Watch for scale Troubleshooting
Scale insects attack this species even in the wild. Inspect leaf undersides and pick off any you find.
Expect slow growth General
The leaves sit close together on short internodes, and the plant grows slowly. Do not repot to hurry it; repotting without good reason sets Nepenthes back.
Prune for lower pitchers Advanced
The showy red pitchers are the lower ones. Keeping the plant pruned encourages it to keep making them rather than the small green upper pitchers.
Faits intéressants
No other Nepenthes grows as far east.
It is named after Eugène Vieillard, who collected plants in New Caledonia and Tahiti between 1861 and 1867.
Lower pitchers can be fully red-black even in deep shade.
Ripe seed is often kept inside partly opened capsules on the old flower stalks, which may act as a seed store.
Danser (1928) included highland plants from New Guinea in this species; they are now treated as N. lamii.
The IUCN Red List assessed it as Least Concern in 2018 (Clarke, assessment T39711A143966417).
Histoire
Joseph Dalton Hooker described Nepenthes vieillardii in 1873 in his account of the Nepenthaceae for de Candolle's Prodromus, naming it after Eugène Vieillard, who collected plants in New Caledonia and Tahiti in the 1860s. In 1906 Dubard described a var. deplanchei and a separate N. montrouzieri, but Danser judged both to be extreme forms of the same species.
In his 1928 monograph Danser extended N. vieillardii to plants from western New Guinea, including stunted alpine plants from the Doorman Top, where frost occurs before sunrise. Those New Guinea plants are now treated as a separate species, N. lamii, leaving N. vieillardii confined to New Caledonia. Gibson reported in 2010 that the species has proved amenable to cultivation.
Sources
- Nepenthes vieillardii, Wikipedia
- Gibson, R. (2010) Nepenthes vieillardii in the wild, Carniflora News 1(3): 15-16 (archived PDF)
- Danser, B. H. (1928) Nepenthes vieillardii, in The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies (transcribed)
- Nepenthes: species from other parts of the world, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
- Nepenthes: basic cultivation, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
- Nepenthes: advanced cultivation, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ (Barry Rice)
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