Borneo Gallery 3 - N. lowii

[shawnintland]

Ok, most of these N. lowii are from the areas around G. Murud, Church Camp, the Rock Garden or somewhere in between. They appeared to grow everywhere ... on logs, on the ground, as huge epiphytic hanging clumps in the tops of trees, even sprouting right out of the old rotten boards of "The Boardwalk" - "Murud's Most Trecherous Mile!"

See what I mean?
These were probably the most interesting from a tactile sense. The pitchers feeling like balsa wood and dried pitchers in the trees firm enough to act as rattles in the wind. The wide adaptability regarding where it 'felt at home' was evident as there were plants of exceptional health growing in most conditions you could imagine.

Okay, here we go, I've only downloaded and compressed mostly pitcher photos, the 'plant' photos will come later if there's interest. Hope they are entertaining and/or useful!

Starting with the youngsters;










spacer;


On with the Show; Check out Nature's spectacular pallet!

























Ok, its getting late. Another gallery, another day. Thanks for dropping by!

[srduggins]

Those are just incredible. I'd love to see how the plant is anchored to the tree. Are the plants actually growing in the rotten boards or just coming up through them? Each picture is more amazing than the last. I love to see the variety. Thanks for sharing.

[shawnintland]

Yep, they have actually sprouted directly on the rotten wood of the old boardwalk! I heard that there was to be a big gathering at Church Camp the week after we were there and that crews of villagers from Bakalan were coming up to re-build the boardwalk before the gathering. The N. lowii were just everywhere though, as I said, growing in every possible condition and most all looking really healthy. At the end of the boardwalk closest to Church Camp I counted 14 huge flower spikes (female) on one big clump of lowii growing epiphytically! Later at The Rock Garden, due to the lack of big trees, they were all ground-growing plants and of amazing proportions and health. The onset of a lightning storm sent us all dashing for lower ground so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked there, but I'd have loved to have time to look around for more hybrids there. It really was a bit of a gift from Heaven to be standing in the midst of such beautiful plants!

[boris]

A big thanks for this fantastic photos. I'd really love to see more of the plants.

[rainforest]

One question regarding the ground growers. Is the soil chalky rock-like underneath, heavy humus or describe what it's like. One photo appears to be almost clay-like while another appear like some sort of white chalky rock.
Those growing epiphytically seem a bit more resilient to those conditions.

M