AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



435 



Neottia continued. 



plants, with sheathing scales, natives of Europe and the 

 Northern and mountainous regions of Asia. They are 

 of little horticultural value. The undermentioned species 

 is found generally in dark woods in many parts of Eng- 

 land, Ireland, and Southern and Central Scotland. 

 N. Nidus-avis (bird's-nest). fl., sepals broadly ovate, almost 

 acute ; petals more rounded ; lip twice as long, deeply bilobed at 



the extremity ; spike dense, Sin. to 4in. long. Spring and early 



scales which replace the leaves, light brown. Roots a mass of 

 succulent, stout, interlaced fibres. (Sy. En. B. 1478.) 



NEOTTIDIUM. A synonym of Neottia (which see). 



NEOTTOPTERIS. Included under Asplenium 

 (which see). 



NEPENTHACE.S. A monotypic order of curious 

 shrubs or sub-shrubs, inhabiting tropical Asia, Mada- 

 gascar, the Seychelles, tropical Australia, New Caledonia, 

 and especially the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers 

 greenish (when dry, dark brown or purple), small, 

 dioecious. Seeds at first floating, and imbibing the water ; 

 afterwards sinking to the bottom, where they germinate. 

 " Leaves alternate ; petiole winged at the base, the midrib 

 prolonged at the top, and curved or spirally twisted, 

 and terminating in a second foliaceous expansion, which 

 is hollowed like an urn (the pitcher), to the opening of 

 which is fitted a sort of lid, attached as by a hinge, and 

 capable of being lowered or raised, so that the pitcher 

 is sometimes closed, sometimes open. It is often found 

 to contain a watery liquid before the raising of the lid " 

 (Le Maout and Decaisne). Nepenthes the only genus 

 comprises upwards of thirty species. 



NEPENTHES (an old Greek name of a plant used 

 by Homer ; the word means grief - assuaging, and is 

 used in reference to supposed medicinal qualities). 

 Pitcher-plant. STN. Phyllamphora. The only genus 

 of OED. Nepenthacece (which see for characters). The 

 species of this genus are not of difficult culture, pro- 

 vided they are kept in a moist atmosphere, where a tem- 

 perature of from 70deg. to SOdeg. is maintained during 

 summer, and 65deg. in winter. They succeed best in a 

 compost of two parts brown peat fibre and one of sphag- 

 num. Nepenthes are most suitable for basket culture. 

 and require an abundant supply of water in summer. 

 Propagation may be effected by cuttings of well-ripened 

 one-year-old shoots, plunged into a strong bottom heat ; 

 or by seeds, when procurable. The latter should be 

 thinly sown in a seed-pan, filled to within lin. of its rim 

 with a compost similar to that already described, a little 

 water being curefully sprinkled over the surface pre- 

 vious to sowing. The pan should then be placed in a 

 moist, close frame, having a bottom heat of SOdeg. to 

 85deg. Germination will ensue in about one month from 

 the time of sowing. When several leaves appear, the 

 seedlings should be transplanted into small pots. 



N. albo-mr 



(white-margined). I. narrow, 9in. to 12in. 



long. Pitchers light green below, reddish above, having a dis- 

 tinct white ring towards the mouth. Singapore, 1848. A very 

 dwarf -growing species, admirably suited for basket culture. 

 (G. C. 1849 580; T. L. S. xxii. 73.) 



N. ampnllaria (bottle-like). L broad, oblong, with somewhat 

 ovate pitchers ; terminal lid very small ; colour a uniform light 

 green. Borneo, &c., 1789. A robust-growing species. (B. M. 

 5109; F. d.S. 2325.) 



N. a. picta (spotted). A variety having light green pitchers, 

 streaked and spotted with reddish-brown. 



N. a. vlttata major (larger-striped). A form having relatively 

 small flask-shapea pitchers, with two fringed wings and a small 

 lid, the pitcher itself elegantly mottled with reddish blotches on 

 a green ground. (I. H. 272.) 



N. angnstifolia (narrow-leaved). I. sub-coriaceous, sessile, am- 

 plexicaul, decurrent, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, with the 

 midrib prolonged into a long tendril. Pitchers green, spotted 

 with red, Ifin. to 2in. long, flask-shaped, distended at the base, 

 gradually passing into an elongated, cylindrical neck ; wings 

 narrow, fringed ; mouth obliquely ovate, sulcate-striate ; lid 

 ilabrous, cordate, sub-orbicular, with a short, entire, pinnatisect 

 -pur at the base. Sarawak, 1881. 



Nepenthes continued. 



N. atro-sangninea (dark-blood-red). I. stalked. Pitchers red- 

 dish-crimson, slightly spotted with yellow, about 6in. by 2Jin., 

 pointed at the base, distended at the lower half, cylindric above ; 

 wings broad, fringed ; mouth ovate, acute, slightly prolonged 

 towards the lid, and surrounded by a flattish rim, marked with 

 close ridges, some red, others blackish ; lid about the size of the 

 mouth, oblong, emarginate, with a simple spur at the base, 1882. 

 A handsome garden hybrid, probably a cross between If. rubra 

 and A\ Sedeni. (G. C. n. s., xvii. 827.) 



N. bicalcarata (two-spurred).* I. of a peculiar dark green, 

 obovate-lanceolate. Pitchers bag-shaped, covered when young 

 with a fluffy rust-coloured down, and provided with two sharply- 

 toothed wings when fully developed ; neck thrown into ridges 

 with intervening furrows, and prolonged at the back into an 

 erect or slightly incurved process, terminating in the two 

 recurved spurs, like the fangs of a snake with its head uplifted to 

 strike. Borneo, 1878. (G. C. n. s., xiii. 201.) 



FIG. 671. STEM OP NEPENTHES DISTILT.ATORIA. 



N. chelsonii (Chelsea). A garden hybrid between .V. Dominiana 

 and N. Hookeriana, and having a habit intermediate between 

 the two. It is well worth growing. 



N. cincta (girded). 1. approximate, 12in. by 3in., coriaceous, 

 oblong-lanceolate, tapering to a broad dilated base, dark 

 green : midrib somewhat angular on the lower surface. Pitchers 

 green, flushed with red, and with numerous irregular purple 

 blotches, tubular, slightly ventricose, rounded at base, 7in. to Sin. 

 by 2Ain. ; rim very oblique, lin. broad, undulate, lobed, finely 

 ribbed, with a narrow whitish band around the top of the tube ; 

 lower half thicker in texture than the upper ; lid orbicular and 

 two-ribbed, arching over the mouth of the pitcher. Stems cylin- 

 drical, stout Borneo, 1884. (G. C. n. s., xxi. 110.) 



N. oooolnea (scarlet).* I. acute at apex. Pitchers crimson, 

 slightly speckled with yellow, 6in. by 3in., flask-shaped, pointed 

 at the base, distended below the middle, broadly cylindric above ; 

 wings deeply fringed ; mouth ovate, acute, slightly protracted at 

 the back ; rim broad, finely ribbed, the ribs parti-coloured red 

 and black ; throat greenish, speckled with red ; lid ovate-oblong, 



