"An account of ''Nepenthes'' in New Guinea" is a monograph by

Matthew Jebb Matthew Hilary Peter Jebb (born 1958) is an Irish botanist and taxonomist specialising in the ant plant genera ''Squamellaria'', '' Myrmecodia'', '' Hydnophytum'', ''Myrmephytum'' and '' Anthorrhiza'', as well as the carnivorous plant genus '' ...

on the tropical pitcher plants of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. It was published in the March 1991 issue of ''Science in New Guinea'', a journal of the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

.Jebb, M.H.P. 1991. An account of ''Nepenthes'' in New Guinea. ''Science in New Guinea'' 17(1): 7–54. It remains the only major monograph devoted to the tropical pitcher plants of the island.

Background

The monograph was the result of work carried out by Jebb during an extended stay at the Christensen Research Institute in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. It was preceded by a brief account of New Guinea ''Nepenthes'' published in the 1989 book ''

The Carnivorous Plants ''The Carnivorous Plants'' is a major work on carnivorous plants by American botanist Francis Ernest Lloyd. It was first published in 1942 by the Chronica Botanica Company as the ninth volume of ''A New Series of Plant Science Books''. It was r ...

''.Jebb, M.H.P. 1989. Some observations on ''Nepenthes'' in Papua New Guinea. In: B.E. Juniper, R.J. Robins & D.M. Joel. ''

''. Academic Press, London. pp. 314–316.

Content

Jebb provided a species key and descriptions of 11

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

: '' N. ampullaria'', '' N. insignis'', '' N. klossii'', '' N. maxima'', '' N. mirabilis'', '' N. neoguineensis'', '' N. paniculata'', '' N. papuana'', '' N. treubiana'', '' N. vieillardii'' (confused with '' N. lamii''; now known to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to New Caledonia),Jebb, M.H.P. & M.R. Cheek 1997. A skeletal revision of ''Nepenthes'' (Nepenthaceae). ''Blumea'' 42(1): 1–106.McPherson, S.R. 2009. ''

Pitcher Plants of the Old World ''Pitcher Plants of the Old World'' is a two-volume monograph by Stewart McPherson on the pitcher plants of the genera '' Nepenthes'' and ''Cephalotus''. It was published in May 2009 by Redfern Natural History Productions and covers all species ...

''. 2 volumes. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. and one

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

(later described as '' N. danseri''). In addition to its species descriptions, "An account of ''Nepenthes'' in New Guinea" includes a survey of the prey assemblage found in 52 pitchers (belonging to 20 plants) of ''N. mirabilis''. Data is tabulated to compare the prey caught by lower and upper pitchers and to show the relationship between pitcher height and prey type.

Reviews

Botanist

Martin Cheek Martin Roy Cheek (born 1960) is a botanist and taxonomist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

''.Cheek, M. 1992. ''Nepenthes'' of New Guinea: Book Review by Martin Cheek. ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

'' 21(4): 108–109. He praised the line drawings and noted that "with this account an outstanding gap has been filled". Cheek continued:

No other regional monograph of ''Nepenthes'' is as scientific in approach or as fully illustrated. ..Jebb excels in elaborating the architecture and predatory pattern of ''Nepenthes''. As far as I am aware, he is the first to link the onset of 'upper' pitcher production with the initiation of flowering. ..Little detracts from this account. Very few typo's came to light ..

Discussing the section on prey assemblage, Cheek wrote that " r perhaps the first time then, the hard facts are provided on predatory patterns in ''Nepenthes''". Cheek concludes by writing: "Anyone interested in any aspect of ''Nepenthes'' is urged to get and read this work."

References

{{Nepenthes monographs Nepenthes literature 1991 documents Biology papers 1991 in biology