Pitcher plants of southern Peninsular Malaysia
On my second day in southern Peninsular Malaysia (Johor
state of Malaysia), I was looking for possible site for fishing....& then we
found a secondary forest full of lowland species of pitcher plants.
To me, there was nothing to look at.....all the common lowland species such as
Nepenthes ampullaria, N. gracilis & N. rafflesiana (N.
mirabilis is rare in Johor).
However, when my friend, Lim found a natural cross hybrid, N. gracilis x
N. rafflesiana, my eyes almost "popped out" !!!! Gosh!!! This is VERY
VERY RARE hybrid! Lim was too lucky to find it !!!!
The habitat:
Nepenthes gracilis.
Nepenthes ampullaria.
There is no red N. ampularia in Peninsular
Malaysia. However, I found this pitcher is a bit red....must be caused by the
strong sunlight in the open space (of where it grows).
N. rafflesiana.
The first hybrid that we found is N. x
hookeriana:
Then, we found this rare N. gracilis x N.
rafflesiana. (The leaf looks like something in between N. gracilis &
N. rafflesiana)
N. gracilis x N. rafflesiana.
And we also found N. x trichocarpa (N.
ampullaria x N. gracilis) - upper pitcher.
N. x trichocarpa - lower pitcher:
N. x trichocarpa
N. x trichocarpa - these lower pitchers are covered by grasses & leaf litter.....so the color is reddish. No idea what caused it to be red in color when it is not exposed to the sunlight.
