President's Address. 229 



Opening Address of Session 1889-90. By Mr Egbert 

 Lindsay, President of the Society. 



071 the Genus Nepenthes. (AVith Plate I.) 



The subject on which I venture to make a few remarks, 

 viz., the genus Nepenthes, is one that was suggested to me as 

 being somewhat appropriate from the fact that it is exactly 

 a century since the first species was introduced into culti- 

 vation. I the more willingly agree to this suggestion, since 

 the practical cultivation of these interesting plants has 

 engaged my attention for many years. A good deal has 

 been written of late years about the species of this genus 

 Nepenthes from a physiological point of ^dew, beginning with 

 Sir J. D. Hooker's Address on Carnivorous Plants, delivered 

 to the British Association in 1874 The work of the late 

 Professor Dickson on their minute structure is familiar 

 to you all, — work which, I am glad to say, is still being 

 elaborated and extended by Dr Macfarlane. But in addition 

 to the scientific interest which attaches to these highly 

 specialised plants, their suitability for garden decorative 

 purposes, as well as the ease with which they can be 

 cultivated, renders them peculiarly attractive. Their singu- 

 larity of form and beauty of colour are not exceeded by any 

 other group of plants. 



The order Xepenthaceae is limited to the single genus Nepen- 

 thes, which consists of thirty-four species and nine varieties, 

 as defined by Sir J. D. Hooker.* In 1847, when Dr Lindley 

 published the second edition of his ' Vegetable Kingdom ' six 

 species only were known. The plants are shrubby, climbing, 

 and dioecious. The greater number are natives of Borneo and 

 the Malay Archipelago ; but one, N khasiana, is a native of 

 India, another, N. distillatoria, grows in Ceylon, N. Pervillei 

 is a native of the Seychelles, and N madagascariensis is 

 endemic in ]\Iadagascar, whilst from tropical Australia comes 

 N Kennedyana. Since the publication of Sir J. D. Hooker's 

 monograph in De CandoUe's ' Prodromus,' four new species 

 have been discovered and introduced into cultivation by the 



* De CandoUe, Prodrornus, vol. xvii., 1873. 



