N. sp. "Viking"

[sulud1]

Hi Marcello,
Great youtube flix!
Truly,
Tom

[sockhom]

Hello .


I would like to say that I'm all ears. If you guys can show me that N. "Viking" should be deemed as a species, then I'd be happy to spread the word.

I have to confess that I didn't observed many N. Viking specimens apart from mine. My plant may be a hybrid with N. mirabilis I don't know.
Yes, thin leaves and serated margins may not be enough to merge mirabilis with "Viking" but, still, I think that to deserve the species status, N. "Viking" should show significant differences.

When it comes to Nepenthes taxonomy, we should mainly rely on stable characters: shape of the stem (cross section), leaf insertion on the stem, distribution of the longitudinal veins, peristome, distribution of the glands, indumentum.

These are stable characters to me. The others (shape of the leaves, shape of the pitchers, colour, wings and even - sometimes- the flowers) are not that distinctive - except for some species.

It seems to me that N. "viking" share the same leaves, the same Leaf attachement and even the same peristome and flower structure than N. mirabilis. Am I wrong ?


François.

François.

[sockhom]

Hey, I had never watch those videos before. The first one is very funny !

So, Cello, you made Stewy walk all day long just to spot some plain and identical plants from our dear Indochina ;D?
After the thrills he experienced in Sumatra of the Philippines?
You saddistic punk ;D


François.

[Marcello Catalano]

Yeah, I brought him to see kampotiana, kongkandana and then another three probably new species, then he went to Phu Kradung for N. smilesii by himself (I made for him a quick map to find the plants as soon as he would reach the top). Every time he was like "come on mate, it's the same bloody thing!" !!!!! We had so much fun and laughs, I love that guy. He's so genuinely positive and enthusiastic, while I'm all the contrary, even if sometimes it doesn't seem. It was funny to see how our personalities were reacting one to the other.
Of course in Thailand he was facing a completely different reality. Nepenthes don't grow every ten metres on the road side, and not even in the first mossy forest you meet. It's a continuous investigation, ask people, meet people, ask people...tens of times...and finally, after a week, if you're lucky, you find a location of 10 square metres, sometimes the only one in the whole province. And all the plants are half dead because it's the dry season! Stewy was lucky to avoid the first 4-5 years, during which it was just ask, meet, ask, meet etc, to know the locations I know now.
He was frequently saying "what's the point in creating 10 new species when we have just two people on the planet who can see the difference!"... it might be good sense, but unfortunately taxonomy doesn't work that way
Or in front of a dry savannah, behind some huts facing on the main road, for kongkandana, "mate, are you sure this is the place?...It doesn't look like a nepenthes habitat at all..."