2124 



Ni:ri:NTiiEs 



NEPENTHES 



ui:\rizoil by the writ it in liis nionograjih 

 publisluxi as lift. o(i of Engloi's "rilanzon- 

 rcioh." A ni-noral ilosoription is there 

 given in Eiighsli on 'pv'- ---l>, wliile de- 

 tailed ileseriptions of the sin^eies and 

 hybrids follow in Latin. An interesting 

 aecount of the group is given by Veiteh 

 and Biirbidge in Jouru. Roy. Hort. Soc, 

 vol. 21 for 1S>>7, on i>p. 22l>^JtJ2. 



HiMory and Jiglribulion. 



We owe the first notice of the group to 

 the French botanist Klacourt. In liis "His- 

 ton- of the Island of Madagascar" (Iti.'iS) 

 he described the only native iiitcher-plant 

 of that region as .\nrainitico, and inclined 

 to regard the pitcher as a flower or hollow 

 fruit. In 1670 lirejTi described the only 

 Ccvlon species :is linndura ZiiKjaknsium, 

 and he justly regarded it as a vegetable 

 wonder, ^ince that time other forms have 

 been discovered in the Seychclle I.slands, 

 in southern China, in northeast India, in 

 the Philippines, the East Indian Islands 

 and in northeast Australia. But the head- 

 quarters of the genus extend from the 

 Malay Peninsula — where are ten sjiecies — 

 through Borneo and Sumatra, that contain 

 about twent>-four species, to New Guinea 

 and Australia in a sovitlierly and the 

 Philippines in a northerly direction, where 

 are about twenty-si.\ sjiecies. 



While nearly one-fourth of the species 

 grow in hot reeking swampy situations at 

 or near sea-level in the eastern tropics, 

 the larger number occur in moist ground 

 on the western and northwestern sides of 

 the mountains at elevations of 1,000 to 

 even 10,000 feet. Thus the lone and im- 

 pressive mountain, Kinabalu in north- 

 western Borneo, that rises to a height of 

 13,700 feet, overlooks a tropical shore 

 region that is rich in nepenthes. But, 

 from 3,000 to 10,(K)0 feet, it harbors eight 

 species, some of which arc the largest and 

 most gorgeously colored of the genus. The 

 zone of the mountain where the finest are 

 found extends from 6,000 to 10,000 feet 

 and Burbidge ha-s gra[)hically described 

 how this entire belt is almost continuously 

 shrouded in a den.se mist, due to moisture 



f)recipitation from meeting of tlie hot 

 ower current of air with the cold currents 

 from the moimtain top. This moist drip- 

 ping climate seems eminently to suit the 

 forms found there, while all of the species 

 flourish best when kept in moist "steamy" 

 surroundings. Repeated attempts were 

 made, from 17.50 onward, to introduce and 

 grow a few of the si)ecies from Madag;is- 

 car, Ceylon, India and Borneo. But the 

 type of greenhouse of thi.s earlier period, 

 and the method a<Iopted in tlutir cultiva- 

 tion combined to prevent success. From 

 183fJ to 1860, however, so well had the 

 mode of culture advanced, that .set^dlings 

 were rai.scd in the F>iinburgh, London and 

 Chatsworth gardens, while the Veiteh firm 

 that now ha^I collectors like Ijobb busy in 

 the native haunts of the genus, imporUid 

 living plants as well as .seeds, both of 

 which they grew succes-sfully. A great 

 impf;tus wa-s given U> the culture of 

 the group when gardeners like Dominy, 

 Taplin, Seden and Court sucw^eded in 

 crossing .some of the species then culti- 



2462. Five distinct types of nepenthes. 



IJcKinninK from tlie top tiioy uro: 

 A^. vilhinn, N. J-iOvni, N. Hajah, N. 

 Uookerinna, and N. liajfleitiana. The 

 first three bcIonK to the famous Kina- 

 balu Kroup. Tiie fourth is the parent 

 of more hybrids than any other kind. 



vated, from IS.W to 1S70, and in raising 

 hybrids tlicicfrom. These hybrids seemed 

 often to combine good i)oints of both par- 

 ents, while they, as well as many hybrids 

 since secured, are usually more easy of 

 cultivation, and form a greater showing 

 of the striking pitclicrs than does either 

 parent. But a new and very lively inter- 

 est was created in the group after Hooker 

 drew attcntioit to the remarkabk^ strticture 

 of the jiitchcrs, and their adaptation to the 

 catching and digestion of insect prey, as 

 set forlli in his Belfast address before the 

 British .Vssociation in IS74. Collectors 

 like ('urtis, Burke, and Burbidge were 

 commissionefl by the Veiteh firm to secure 

 every available tyjje encoimtered from 

 Madagascar to Australia. Successful 

 methods of raising, growing and flowering 

 the.se had been devised; mimerous new 

 hybrids appeared in England, America 

 and France from 1S7.5 to 1900, while the 

 scientific interest in the group that was 

 stimulated by the writings of Darwin and 

 Hooker has caused an ever-increasing 

 demand for such plants in every typical 

 collection. 



A description of the nepenthes would be 

 very incomplete in such a work as the 

 present, did we not refer again to the his- 

 tory of their hybridization by man, and the 

 resulting production of hothouse types 

 that more than rival in beauty many of 

 the wild species, and which are, as already 

 indicated, more easy of cultivation than 

 are the parent forms. 



When Dominy first attempted to cross 

 Nepenthes, few fine forms were in cultivar 

 tion, A^. Raffle siana and A^. Hookeriana 

 being the best. About 18.58 or 1860 he 

 crossed flowers of the former with pollen 

 from what was probably A', gracilis from 

 Borneo. The resulting hybrids that were 

 sent out from the Veiteh nurseries as A''. 

 Dominii were at once a success under cul- 

 tivation, and stimulated further experi- 

 ment with species of the group. Dominy, 

 Seden, Court and Outram continued this in 

 England from 18t)0 to 1880, while Ta])lin, a 

 friend of the two latter, extended the 

 work in Such's collection. By the latter 

 period it had been proved that the species 

 of Nepenthes can be hybridized and re- 

 hybridized, at the same time remaining 

 fertile. The varied beauty and easy cul- 

 ture of the hybrids — specially those of 

 Ta])liii, which were secured and distributed 

 mainly by Williams of London, rendered 

 the grou]5 more popular. An added stimu- 

 lus was given when Court raised A'^. Mas- 

 tersiana about 1880. But such striking 

 species as A'^. Veilchii, N . Norlhiana, N. 

 maxima, {N. Curlisii) and A', sanguinea 

 were all soon to hand, and so hybridizers 

 like Court, Tivey, Lindsay, and Gautier in 

 Euro|)c, as well as Oliver and Siebrecht 

 in this cotmtry, produced novelties in 

 which the "blood" of three to four species 

 was bl(!nded. In I'^rance, Jarry-Desloges 

 and his gardener have obtained some 

 beautiful and complex hybrids, but 

 they have not as yet been distributetl. 

 The pitchers of some of the above 

 when well grown are magnificent, the 

 plants are in no way more difficult of 

 culture than many of the well-known 



