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Post by capslock on Apr 23, 2008 10:59:00 GMT -10
Greetings, Here are pics from my recent trip to Langkawi, Malaysia! I found a guide who knew where they grew high in the mountains here. I cannot identify the species, as from what I understand the only ones that are supposed to grow here are N. gracilis, N. mirabilis, and N. smilesii. Here are the mountains the plants inhabit (only at the very tops). To protect the location, I will not say which peak had them, but they are not accessible by any trail, and require an all-day, extremely strenuous hike straight through the brush. Here's a look, at the very beginning of the hike, up a small stream that marked the end of the very short trail to a swimming hole: OK, enough setup, let's get to the plants! It's strange, there are no nepenthes whatsoever, then all of the sudden, they're all over the place. It looks like there are two kinds, but I'm not convinced that some aren't just uppers and some lowers (the redder ones). They never appeared on one plant together, and some had red stems, and some green, but still - the green ones all look like uppers, and the reds all like lowers. In any case, here they all are - and these pics all were taken within 20 feet of eachother: (continued...)
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Post by capslock on Apr 23, 2008 10:59:10 GMT -10
And some whole plant/context pics: Here's one that looked to be growing right out of a tree trunk: This was the end of the dry season in Langkawi, and the ground was VERY dry. The soil was relatively dense clay/sand in texture, and again, very dry. Not what you'd expect nepenthes to be growing in. There weren't many pitchers, which is reasonable given the season, and a lot of brown vine and dead pitchers. The plants all had a scrambling growth habit. The weather was hot/humid, as it always is here, I'd guess about 84 degrees. It does cool down at night up here, apparently, and my guide reported he cannot grow these down at sea level where he has N. mirabilis growing wild on his farm. Any ideas on what these are? Max
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Post by capslock on Apr 23, 2008 10:59:41 GMT -10
Update: The leading theory right now is that they are N. smilesii.
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