Where did my Nepenthes Come From?

[nepsaroundthehouse]

Nepenthes you buy generally come from 3 sources: seed grown, tissue cultured, or from cuttings.

Seed grown plants originate from seed collected in the wild or from a female plant pollinated in cultivation. Many first offerings and new hybrids originate from seed.

Tissue cultured plants are laboratory cultivated Nepenthes that are grown in flasks in very special conditions. Tissue cultured plants or "tc" plants are identical to the plant it was copied from. These plants can be produced over and over again. If you have "clone 1" then every Nepenthes created from clone 1 will be identical. Sometimes there's multiple clones available and other times there's only one.

Rooted cuttings are clones too. They are identical to the parent plant the cutting was taken from. The vines can be cut back and then induced to root to create another Nepenthes. Rooted cuttings are a great way to get an adult Nepenthes quicker than growing out from a small Nepenthes. Also, many hobbyists trade out "cuttings" that others may not have.

Here's most likely where your Nepenthes came from.

Borneo Exotics
They produce mainly species Nepenthes. Their first offerings of new species may be seed grown . These first new seed grown species will be more expensive until they make their way into tissue culture. The majority of their plants are derived from tissue culture. They do have a few rooted cuttings available to their distributors. Their Nepenthes are purchased and resold to you unless you import directly from them. They are the current leader in introducing new species into the Nepenthes community. Of late, they are creating some greenhouse hybrids. I would also say that most of the Nepenthes available on the internet for purchase came from "BE."

Exotica Plants
These folks produce some of the best Nepenthes available. They are the leaders in hybridization. Exotica does have species available at times, but primarily offers hybrids. Almost all of their plants are seed grown or selected cuttings. They do have a few "tc" plants available as well. Some of their select cuttings have commanded high prices and are highly sought after.

The Nepenthes Nursery or Wistuba
All plants are from tissue culture except for maybe one or two from small cuttings. Wistuba has introduced new species into cultivation as well. They generally sell species but offer a few hybrids. Usually there's only one or a few clones available of each Nepenthes species. A few species like N. clipeata seem to be only available from this source.

Malesiana Tropicals
Their plants are mainly from tissue culture and are species oriented. They used to be more of an influence in the Nepenthes community but lately their plants aren't being imported and resold that much any more. Some of their clones were quite nice too.

Leilani Hapu'u Nursery
Nepenthes becoming available from Leilani are seed grown hybrids. Since I'm writing this on Leilani's site, I hope I get my facts straight! Leilani MAY still have rooted cuttings available here and there but I doubt it. His Nepenthes are just starting to be more widely distributed here in the US. Leilani's hybrids are very nice and good sized compared to other Nepenthes out there. Look for Leilani to be a US leader in Nepenthes hybrids.

Now that the Nepenthes community is growing, home grown hybrids are starting to circulate too. There are a few other "wholesale" Nepenthes that are produced in mass that make their way into nurseries and home do it centers along with the Venus Flytraps. It's also common to see Nepenthes at orchid shows. I'm not that familiar with the Asian and European communities to be knowledgeable about what they're making available. More than likely however, your Nepenthes originated from one of the nurseries stated earlier.

[rainforest]

The demand for nepenthes is an ongoing, evolving and revolutionary experience. Many growers have taken this species by their horns and created niche markets in which they can offer their plants for sale.
A leader in hybridization is Exotica Plants. I would imagine they would be in the species market as well if they had access to seed and multiple clone species. But alas, the other producers offer few or one clone to sort of prevent this from occurring. While this may not be the intent, it appears so to everyone else out there. Why just tc ONE clone when even the nepenthes species itself has a male and female counterpart. This sounds submental if you think that Noah would fill his ark with just one of each species before saving the world. This is what some nurseries are doing when they just produce ONE clone. Yes, indeed very retarded!
Exotica Plants have produced to date the most substantial hybrids with some seemingly sublime in names to others whose outlandish combinations should guarantee them merit in the Hybrid Hall of Fame if ever there was one. As they flower more species we will see more hybrids with them. Of lately, N. ephippiata is one of those recently flowered and recently available as a hybrid. I bet we will be seeing hybrids with N. rajah, burbidgeae and many others in the years to come. We always look forward to their offerings and pant/drool as we try to imagine what the outcomes of some of these hybrids fetch in ones imagination.

Borneo Exotics have become a leader in species offerings, yet they have turned unfortunately into the world of hybridization. This is unfortunate since they are one of the leading nurseries in producing species. Unfortunately, their idea of selling species is to sell tc clones of species and SEED-original hybrids. That may seem contradictory since they are a "species" outfit and as described in their goals of providing nepenthes species through artificial propagation seems weak. Their nursery has some of the best specimen species in captivity, but they are using these to promote/produce hybrids instead of making viable seed production of true purebred species to make selections from. If they can do this, then yes, they are the leaders in nepenthes. As anyone who can produce species, controls the world market in nepenthes. Currently, I rate them second to Exotica Plants, and having a few controversial incidences of unknown parents in hybrids and species with introgression, their ability to produce plant material with certainty leaves me at least in doubt and concern. This can be turned around about face if they were to make captive seed species from known parents showing characteristics true to form. While they hold the offering of pure N. rajah in captivity, after seeing variegation occur in some clones, this leads me to believe that their genetic integrity has been compromised and mutagenic properties has occurred already.

Wistuba's nurery has a dynamic approach to nepenthes, but with too few clonal offerings and many clones already very old in the lab, this leads me to say that they need to update their stock of mother block plants from which explant material is taken from. Most labs will not hold onto stock material for more than five years since many are of the opinion that even three years, genetic material is already compromised. Another point I'd like to address, is that they should acknowledge the sex of older known clones. While this may discourage a buyer from buying every clone, knowing what sex a particular clone is helpful for someone with limited space and budget.

Malesiana Tropicals has not really updated their offerings since they started. While they have added a few hybrids, very little information is known about them and giving them names that isn't registered anywhere, it is as worthwhile as pedigree dogs without papers. I would like to see this nursery revamp their stock of nepenthes species. Collectors can create their own hybrids if given superior clones to begin with. They need to also redevelop their packing and handling methods as I have received shipments that appeared to be just stuffed inside a box with little effort or concern about what the customer sees when the package is opened and inspected. While this may be different for a single individual order, it's a shame when dozens of plants are stuffed into a zip lock baggie and begin decaying in transit.

Leilani Nursery has some of the best hardened nursery stock available anywhere! Seedlings are tough and vigorous and show characteristics of a well grown seedling in any genera. This is how every nepenthes should be when you receive them. Plants are grown with TLC and it shows.

M

[rainforest]

I like to do this by the two-part id system already in place for species identification:

First divide the plant if it is a seed original or tc.

seed original 95% will be by EP
the rest: 100% from MT, 100% from Wistuba, 5% by BE

This is an easy first step.

M

[philgreen]

Rainforest.
Your view on origin may be true for America, but I don't believe it is for Europe.

In my opinion, I would think more seed originals come from BE than EP ( I rarely see EP plants offered for sale ).

But also Chris Klien supplies many excellent seed original Neps, as well as many private growers such as Jens.

There are also now others who's seedlings will be increasingly available, such as Derek Clavell-Bate.

But I do agree with you on the fact that TC can never 'save' a species. I now only buy seed grown - as well as seeds to grow my own.

Phil.

[rainforest]

Excellent, this is the first step in saving a species! Good old-fashioned sexual reproduction! I have no qualms on BE/AW/MT, but since they already have adult matured species of all the sexes, it is their responsibility to make seed originals. They have a lab, they have an outlet. The rest is simplicity. The message I get when their offering for seed-originals are only hybrids, tell me that they want to have the exclusivity of owning true species, while the rest of us low-lifes are able to only own tc clones under their control.

This view of growing tc'd plants have changed the buying habits of many collectors. This is the right step in the right direction.

M