NEPENTHES * 



SPECIES. 



THE first introduced to British Gardens was Nepenthes distillatoria, the type 

 species on which Linnaeus founded the genus. A native of Ceylon, this Pitcher 

 had formed the subject of some remarkable writings by early travellers in the 

 East before its introduction to this country, and which, according to Alton, was 

 in 1789. N. distillatoria was not the first species known to science, that distinc- 

 tion probably belonging to N. madagascariensis, which nevertheless was one of 

 the latest to reach England. N. distillatoria was followed in 1826 by N. gracilis 

 (under the name phyllamphora) and in 1828 by N. Khasiana (as distillatoria) 

 three species before the year 1830. These soon lost to cultivation, their cultural 

 requirements being little understood. 



Later followed Nepenthes Rafflesiana and N. ampullaria, discovered by Dr. 

 William Jack in Singapore, the former named in honour of Sir Stamford 

 Raffles, but an attempt to introduce it by the discoverer was unsuccessful. 

 Better fortune attended the labours of Captain Bethune, who brought living 

 plants to Kew in a Wardian case, which he so well cared for that they practically 

 all lived. 



In 1847, Nepenthes Hookeriana was introduced to the Clapton Nursery by 

 Mr. (later Sir Hugh) Low, and shortly afterwards Thomas Lobb sent to Exeter 

 N. Rafflesiana, N. ampullaria, N. albo-marginata, N. Veitchii, N. phyllamphora, 

 N. sanguinea, and other unnamed species. These formed the nucleus of the 

 large collection since cultivated at Chelsea. 



Nepenthes Isevis, sent from Singapore, is figured and described by Lindley in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1848, p. 655, from specimens growing in the houses at 

 Chelsea at that time. 



Sir Hugh Low made known four new species in 1861, having discovered 

 them in making the ascent of Kina Balu, a well-known mountain in Borneo. 

 These respectively Nepenthes Rajah, N. Edwardsiana, N. Lowii, and N. villosa, 

 were not introduced to cultivation at that time, but sufficient material 

 was sent home to enable Sir Joseph Hooker to write a lucid account of the 

 genus, in a paper read before the Linnaean Society in 1859, subsequently 

 printed in the Transactions. 



Ten species and four hybrids are enumerated and described by Dr. Masters 

 in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1872, as growing at Chelsea in that year. 

 The species mentioned were Nepenthes ampullaria, N. Veitchii, N. Rafflesiana, 

 N. phyllamphora, N. Khasiana, N. albo-marginata, N. gracilis, N. Isevis and 

 N. sanguinea. 



* Harry J. Veitch, P.L.S., F.R.G.S., Ac., in Jour. R.H.S. vol. xxi. pt. ii. 



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