4 new species from Thailand
Feb 24, 2010 9:56:55 GMT -10
Post by Marcello Catalano on Feb 24, 2010 9:56:55 GMT -10
To be precise, it's 4 new species and 1 new variety. I just produced the ITALIAN version of my new book: "Nepenthes della Thailandia". The result of my research, started in 2004. I used it to publish 5 new taxa. They are:
N. kerrii: it has never been in cultivation until recently, when it was introduced through western nurseries labelled as sp. Trang (from MacPherson's book) or sp. Satun. It's closely related to N. kongkandana (Songkhla province). It grows in the Tarutao marine park, in the Satun province. It has actually nothing to do with Trang, but I asked Stewart to use the name of another province to better keep the secret around the true location. My friend Trong, following my request, went back to the horrible place where this species grows, just to do the measurings and take the photos for its publication, so he was with great merit included among the authors.
N. andamana: it grows in the Phangà province. It often produces hybrids with N. mirabilis, and these were spread on the market by Thai growers as N. "tiger Phangà" of various types. The pure species is not very common in cultivation, I would say it's nearly completely absent. We have a good example of the real thing in the plants bought by Sunbelle a few years ago and still shown on his website.
N. suratensis: closely related to N. andamana, it grows in the Suratthani province and it was spread in cultivation by Thai growers as N. "tiger Surat". Fortunately, considering the wild populations and what was introduced in cultivation, it never seems to produce hybrids with N. mirabilis, so the plants you bought with that name are the real thing.
N. chang: from the mountains of Ko Chang up to the Banthad chain, in the Trat province. It has never been in cultivation but the seeds sent to western nurseries are germinating in these days. It's closely related to N. kampotiana (coastal Trat province).
N. mirabilis var. globosa: while I was able to find enough minor differences in the previous species to separate them from their close relatives, I only found this kind of details in the PITCHERS of the so-called N. "Viking"/"globosa"/"Trang bizarre", while the rest of the plant is basically a typical N. mirabilis. Actually, if a taxonomist wants to be strict, he could consider this as a form of mirabilis, not even a variety. Also because - and that's the main problem - this species is so variable (leaf size: any, leaf shape: any, lid shape: any, mouth shape: any, flower size: any...) that it's hard to say "this particular feature is not present in the typical mirabilis". I was able to go around that obstacle because the differences with the typical variety are not just in the shape, but in the structure of the pitcher (glandular zone/pitcher hip). Within the var. globosa I included the populations of both Phangà and Trang, as the above mentioned critical details are the same, even if the two forms are slightly different.
The descriptions of these new species, together with the present situation of the Indochinese Nepenthes flora, can be found here:
www.marcellocatalano.com/indochina.html
The var. globosa has been reviewed by Charles Clarke, the other descriptions have been reviewed by Alastair Robinson. The Latin translations were made by Jan Schlauer (var. globosa) and Andreas Fleischmann (the 4 species).
If one day the DNA will prove me wrong, or if the lumpers don't agree with my work, then N. kongkandana/kerrii can be considered one species, and the same goes for N. andamana/suratensis and N. kampotiana/chang. I say this to prevent funny theories like all of them being N. kampotiana, or N. andamana being N. bokorensis or a hybrid N. gracilis x kongkandana etc. Ah, and by the way, the var. globosa might then be a new species or just a form of N. mirabilis.
The var. globosa (I remind you that the term "globosa" was originally proposed for this plant by Shigeo Kurata) was supposed to be published on the CPN, but later on I found myself with the possibility of publishing all of them together and much sooner with my book, and I went for it. My apologies to Jan Schlauer and Barry Rice, the CPN co-editors, who were so helpful, but I'm pretty sure that they are happy anyway, seeing 5 brand new taxa taking the field.
Talking about conservation in cultivation: seeds of N. smilesii, kerrii, andamana, suratensis, chang, kongkandana, thai and var. globosa from Trang have been spread around the world. The var. globosa from Phangà is well present on the market. There's still a problem with N. kampotiana. I was never able to find seeds of that species, but I spread around Europe several cuttings of my 7 clones, whose mother plants were destroyed to leave space to a watermelon plantation.
About conservation in the wild, we just started working on it.
For the English version of the book you'll have to wait another 3 years, as I need money and room for the copies. If you can't wait so long, if you speak Italian or if you don't mind spending 30 euros + postage to buy a book that you can't read, but with 207 pages and 185 color photos, write me at rafflesiana@yahoo.com and I'll tell you how to get a copy (Paypal only). For any question or comment, I'll be ready to develop this topic on the pitcher-plants.com forum.
Thanks!
N. kerrii: it has never been in cultivation until recently, when it was introduced through western nurseries labelled as sp. Trang (from MacPherson's book) or sp. Satun. It's closely related to N. kongkandana (Songkhla province). It grows in the Tarutao marine park, in the Satun province. It has actually nothing to do with Trang, but I asked Stewart to use the name of another province to better keep the secret around the true location. My friend Trong, following my request, went back to the horrible place where this species grows, just to do the measurings and take the photos for its publication, so he was with great merit included among the authors.
N. andamana: it grows in the Phangà province. It often produces hybrids with N. mirabilis, and these were spread on the market by Thai growers as N. "tiger Phangà" of various types. The pure species is not very common in cultivation, I would say it's nearly completely absent. We have a good example of the real thing in the plants bought by Sunbelle a few years ago and still shown on his website.
N. suratensis: closely related to N. andamana, it grows in the Suratthani province and it was spread in cultivation by Thai growers as N. "tiger Surat". Fortunately, considering the wild populations and what was introduced in cultivation, it never seems to produce hybrids with N. mirabilis, so the plants you bought with that name are the real thing.
N. chang: from the mountains of Ko Chang up to the Banthad chain, in the Trat province. It has never been in cultivation but the seeds sent to western nurseries are germinating in these days. It's closely related to N. kampotiana (coastal Trat province).
N. mirabilis var. globosa: while I was able to find enough minor differences in the previous species to separate them from their close relatives, I only found this kind of details in the PITCHERS of the so-called N. "Viking"/"globosa"/"Trang bizarre", while the rest of the plant is basically a typical N. mirabilis. Actually, if a taxonomist wants to be strict, he could consider this as a form of mirabilis, not even a variety. Also because - and that's the main problem - this species is so variable (leaf size: any, leaf shape: any, lid shape: any, mouth shape: any, flower size: any...) that it's hard to say "this particular feature is not present in the typical mirabilis". I was able to go around that obstacle because the differences with the typical variety are not just in the shape, but in the structure of the pitcher (glandular zone/pitcher hip). Within the var. globosa I included the populations of both Phangà and Trang, as the above mentioned critical details are the same, even if the two forms are slightly different.
The descriptions of these new species, together with the present situation of the Indochinese Nepenthes flora, can be found here:
www.marcellocatalano.com/indochina.html
The var. globosa has been reviewed by Charles Clarke, the other descriptions have been reviewed by Alastair Robinson. The Latin translations were made by Jan Schlauer (var. globosa) and Andreas Fleischmann (the 4 species).
If one day the DNA will prove me wrong, or if the lumpers don't agree with my work, then N. kongkandana/kerrii can be considered one species, and the same goes for N. andamana/suratensis and N. kampotiana/chang. I say this to prevent funny theories like all of them being N. kampotiana, or N. andamana being N. bokorensis or a hybrid N. gracilis x kongkandana etc. Ah, and by the way, the var. globosa might then be a new species or just a form of N. mirabilis.
The var. globosa (I remind you that the term "globosa" was originally proposed for this plant by Shigeo Kurata) was supposed to be published on the CPN, but later on I found myself with the possibility of publishing all of them together and much sooner with my book, and I went for it. My apologies to Jan Schlauer and Barry Rice, the CPN co-editors, who were so helpful, but I'm pretty sure that they are happy anyway, seeing 5 brand new taxa taking the field.
Talking about conservation in cultivation: seeds of N. smilesii, kerrii, andamana, suratensis, chang, kongkandana, thai and var. globosa from Trang have been spread around the world. The var. globosa from Phangà is well present on the market. There's still a problem with N. kampotiana. I was never able to find seeds of that species, but I spread around Europe several cuttings of my 7 clones, whose mother plants were destroyed to leave space to a watermelon plantation.
About conservation in the wild, we just started working on it.
For the English version of the book you'll have to wait another 3 years, as I need money and room for the copies. If you can't wait so long, if you speak Italian or if you don't mind spending 30 euros + postage to buy a book that you can't read, but with 207 pages and 185 color photos, write me at rafflesiana@yahoo.com and I'll tell you how to get a copy (Paypal only). For any question or comment, I'll be ready to develop this topic on the pitcher-plants.com forum.
Thanks!