Nepenthes lowii

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Nepenthes lowii

Illustration of Nepenthes lowii from
Life in the Forests of the Far East published in 1862.

Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Nepenthaceae
Genus:	Nepenthes
Species:	N. lowii

Binomial name

Nepenthes lowii
Hook.f. (1859)

Distribution of N. lowii.

Nepenthes lowii (after Hugh Low, British colonial administrator and naturalist) is a well-known species of pitcher plant and a type of carnivorous plant. This taxon is perhaps the most unusual in the genus, the upper pitchers being very strongly constricted in the middle. Recent studies in the field suggest that this particular species may have moved away from a solely (or even primarily) carnivorous nature and be adapted to "catching" the droppings of birds.^[1]

Hugh Low, who discovered N. lowii on his first ascent of Mount Kinabalu, wrote the following account of this species:^[2]

A little way further we came upon a most extraordinary Nepenthes, of, I believe, a hitherto unknown form, the mouth being oval and large, the neck exceedingly contracted so as to appear funnel-shaped, and at right angles to the body of the pitcher, which was large, swollen out laterally, flattened above and sustained in an horizontal position by the strong prolongation of the midrib of the plant as in other species. It is a very strong growing kind and absolutely covered with its interesting pitchers, each of which contains little less than a pint of water and all of them were full to the brim, so admirably were they sustained by the supporting petiole. The plants were generally upwards of 40 ft long, but I could find no young ones nor any flowers, not even traces of either.

Lower to intermediate pitchers of cultivated plant

[edit] See also

Protocarnivorous plant

[edit] References

^ Clarke, C.M. 1997. Nepenthes of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
^ Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. Pitcher Plants of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.

Clarke et al. (2000). Nepenthes lowii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU D2 v2.3).