It was supposed to be N. bellii...

[sockhom]

... but it's not!


Hello!


One friend of mine named David Streit, a seasoned grower from Switzerland, grows the following plant for several years now. He got it from a seasoned Nepenthes grower (Olivier Marthaler) as N. bellii. It was before the species became widely available from various sources.

At that time, the only picture of N. bellii that David could find was this one, taken by Phil mann:

encyclo.free.fr/pages/n_bellii.htm

Then, recently, David noticed that his N. bellii doesn't fit with the recent pictures of this Philippines species that we are all familiar with.

David noted that bellii had once a synonym: N. globamphora (described by Kurata). So he wonders if his plant could not be N. globamphora thus making N. globamphora and N. bellii two different taxa (I did not said "species").

Here are some shots from David's plant. The pitchers are 8-10 cm.





Here is a link to pictures showing "typical" bellii:
www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26550


David tried to contact Phil Mann to know more about his mysterious plant as it seems that his plant and the one Phil took in picture are the same. But no response yet.



I told David that his plant is not N. bellii BUT the vegetative parts, the leaves could fit with bellii. the leaves are glabrous too.

I told him that it could either be a complex hybrid (in that case, we would never know) or a new taxon, maybe a new species.
I would only support the second case if David could say with 100 % certainty (via Phil mann?) that his mysterious plant indeed comes from the Philippines.

What is your opinion, guys and gals?
Does someone have N. globamphora description?


Cheers,

François.

[rsivertsen]

I discussed this plant with John Turnbull when he came back from his epic trip. He told me that N. bellii is very closely related to N. merrilliana, and may be just a miniature form of it. They both seem to have a lot of similarities in the floral structures and pitcher, leaves, petioles etc., and grow in the same region of northern Mindanao, but he stopped short of suggesting that it may be of hybrid origin. - Rich

[obregon562]

that almost looks like N. belli x mirabilis or something. Interesting...

[monster]

Um....
I think it is N.mirabilis x belliii...
But it look like N.mirabilis.

[rainforest]

The leaves and arrangement on the stem is interesting. Not like bellii or merrilliana. Looks a lot like "thorelii" but not from the same region. No chances for a mix up?
M