HORTUS VEITCHII 



Another handsome species, Nepenthes * Curtisii, was sent from Borneo, and 

 offered in 1888. The pitchers dull green, are thickly spotted with purple. A 

 fine variety of this species, N. C. superba, possesses larger and more highly 

 coloured urns than the type. 



During a second mission to Malaysia, 1882-1883, Curtis sent seed of a species 

 since named t Nepenthes stenophylla, with green pitchers mottled with red, 

 and first held to be a form of N. Curtisii, but since raised to specific rank 

 by Dr. Masters. 



In the following year Burke collected plants and seeds of two species in the 

 Philippines, one, Nepenthes Burkei, commemorating his labours. Handsome 

 pitchers narrowed in the middle, devoid of the winged appendages common 

 to the majority. A variety N. B. excellens is richly coloured and unusually 

 handsome. During this trip Burke also collected a further supply of seed of 

 N. Northiana, and from this was obtained a distinct plant distributed under 

 the name of N. cincta. It is a supposed natural hybrid between N. Northiana 

 and N. albo-marginata (as these two plants grow in company), and from the 

 resemblance N. cincta bears to the two species, the inference is reasonable. 

 It resembles N. Northiana in leaf and habit of growth, and the pitchers have the 

 white band round the mouth characteristic of N. albo-marginata. 



Nepenthes Pervillei, obtained from seeds sent by a correspondent in the 

 Seychelles, has since been sent to Kew through Mr. Griffith, the Administrator 

 of the Islands. 



Another handsome species, obtained through Mr. Ford, late of the Hong Kong 

 Botanic Gardens, and also from the Royal Gardens, Kew, 1891, is || Nepenthes 

 ventricosa, a native of the Philippines, one of the most distinct of this 

 remarkable genus. The pitchers, wholly without wings, are curiously con- 

 tracted in the middle, with a transverse, not oblique mouth, surrounded by 

 a bright red undulating peristome marked with numerous transverse ribs. 

 The colour delicate pale green with a rosy suffusion at the base, without 

 spots, the pitchers deepening in colour to a deep purplish-rose as they reach 

 maturity. 



Many of the species are from various causes now lost to cultivation, or 

 supplanted by hybrids, in most cases easier to cultivate and more decorative. 



HYBRIDS. 



The artificial hybridization of Nepenthes was commenced by John Dominy at 

 Exeter, and continued by Seden, Court, and Tivey at Chelsea. 



The dicecious character of the Nepenthes renders the pollination of a female 

 flower easy, as emasculation is unnecessary and self-fertilization an impossibility ; 

 but there are drawbacks to even these apparently advantageous conditions, the 

 greatest the difficulty often experienced of procuring pollen when a female 

 plant is in flower, and vice versa, as the sexes seldom flower at the same time. 



* N. Curtisii, Masters in Gard. Chron. 1887, vol. ii. p. 681, fig. 133 ; id. 1889, vol. vi. 

 p. 661, fig. ; Bot. Mag. t. 7138 ; Veitchs' Catlg. of PI. 1888. 



f N. stenophylla, Masters in Gard. Chron. 1890, vol. viii. p. 240; id. 1892, vol. xi. 

 p. 401, fig. 58. 



J N. Burkei, Masters in Gard. Chron. 1889, vol. vi. p. 493, fig. 



N. cincta, Gard. Chron. 1884, vol. xxi. p. 576, fig. 110. 



|| N. ventricosa, Gard. Chron. 1898, vol. xxiii. p. 380, fig. 143. 



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