''Nepenthes hispida'' (; from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''hispidus'' "bristly") is a tropical

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

species native to

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. It grows at elevations of 100 to 800 m in ''kerangas'' forest.Clarke, C.M. 1997. ''

Nepenthes of Borneo ''Nepenthes of Borneo'' is a monograph by Charles Clarke on the tropical pitcher plants of Borneo.Clarke, C.M. 1997. ''Nepenthes of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. It was first published in 1997 by Natural History ...

''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. It is known with certainty only from

Lambir Hills National Park The Lambir Hills National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Bukit Lambir) is a national park in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It is a small park, at , and is composed largely of mixed dipterocarp forest, with some small areas ...

and surrounding areas.Clarke, C.M. & C.C. Lee 2004. ''

Pitcher Plants of Sarawak This list of ''Nepenthes'' literature is a listing of major published works dealing with the tropical pitcher plants of the genus ''Nepenthes''. It includes specialised standalone publications and taxonomic monographs released as part of larger ...

''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. ''Nepenthes hispida'' is listed as

Conservation Dependent A conservation-dependent species is a species which has been categorised as "Conservation Dependent" ("LR/cd") by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), i.e. as dependent on conservation efforts to prevent it from becoming e ...

on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the wild, ''N. hispida'' is only known to hybridise with '' N. reinwardtiana''.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 kno ...

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

Description

The

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

of ''N. hispida'' grows to 6 m in length and 6 mm in diameter. The cylindrical internodes are up to 15 cm long. Leaves are

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

and

coriaceous This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

in texture. The

lamina Lamina may refer to: Science and technology * Planar lamina, a two-dimensional planar closed surface with mass and density, in mathematics * Laminar flow, (or streamline flow) occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption betwee ...

oblanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

-oblong in morphology and can measure up to 28 cm long and 4 cm wide. The apex of the lamina is

acuminate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

-obtuse and often unequal. The base of the lamina is

attenuate In physics, attenuation (in some contexts, extinction) is the gradual loss of flux intensity through a medium. For instance, dark glasses attenuate sunlight, lead attenuates X-rays, and water and air attenuate both light and sound at variable a ...

, amplexicaul, and often

decurrent ''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward. In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...

. Three longitudinal veins run along the lamina on each side of the

midrib This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

. Pennate veins are indistinct.

Tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

s grow to 15 cm in length. The pitchers of ''N. hispida'' are rarely more than 15 cm high and 8 cm wide. They are ovoid-ellipsoid in the lower parts and sub-cylindrical in the upper parts. Aerial or upper pitchers are more cylindrical than lower or terrestrial pitchers. Two fringed wings, up to 3 mm wide, run down the front of the pitchers. These wings are often absent in upper pitchers. The opening or mouth of the pitcher is ovate and oblique. The

peristome Peristome (from the Greek ''peri'', meaning 'around' or 'about', and ''stoma'', 'mouth') is an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelled gastropods have peristomes. In mosses In mosses, ...

is rounded and up to 12 mm wide. The lid or operculum is ovate-elliptic. An unbranched spur, up to 5 mm long, is inserted at the base of the lid. ''Nepenthes hispida'' has a

racemose A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

. The peduncle is up to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm thick. The

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

is attenuate and may grow to 10 cm in length. The partial peduncles, which are up to 8 mm long, are two-flowered at the base only, otherwise one-flowered.

Sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are elliptic and up to 4 mm long. Male and female inflorescences are of similar structure. A very dense

indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant Davis, Peter Hadland and Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963) ''Principles of angiosperm taxonomy'' Van Nostrandpage, Princeton, New Jersey, pa ...

of bristle-like, purple-grey hairs covers the stem. A sparser covering of shorter hairs is present on the inflorescence. Hairs on the surfaces of the leaves are apparently

caducous Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

, or shed at an early stage of development.

Distribution and habitat

In ''

'',

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life Th ...

writes: "''N. hispida'' has been collected from a number of localities in northern

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

, where its distribution overlaps with that of ''N. hirsuta''". However, in ''

'', Clarke and

Ch'ien Lee Ch'ien C. Lee ( Chinese: 李乾; pinyin: Lǐ Qián) is a photographer and botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus '' Nepenthes''. Lee has described several new ''Nepenthes'' species, including '' N. baramensis''Clarke, C., J.A. ...

state: "Recent observations of populations of ''N. hirsuta'' throughout Sarawak suggest that morphological variation in this species is much greater than previously assumed. Accordingly, the only plants that we equate with ''N. hispida'' here are those from the Lambir Hills area". ''Nepenthes hispida'' grows in shady ''kerangas'' forest on steep

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

ridges and is often sympatric with ''

Eugeissona ''Eugeissona'' is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to Borneo, Thailand and Malaysia. The six monoecious species provide a wide range of local uses and are commonly called bertam or wild Bornean sago. The genus is t ...

'' palms. The species occurs at elevations of 100 to 800 m.

Taxonomy

''Nepenthes hispida'' is very similar to the closely related '' N. hirsuta'' and some

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

s contest its status as a separate species. It is also similar to '' N. macrovulagris'', from which it differs in several aspects of pitcher and leaf morphology. In his 1928 monograph, "

The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies" is a seminal monograph by B. H. Danser on the tropical pitcher plants of the Dutch East Indies and surrounding regions. It was originally published in the ''Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg'' ...

", B. H. Danser reduced ''N. hispida'' to a synonym of ''N. hirsuta'', writing "''N. hispida'' Beck is placed among the synonyms f ''N. hirsuta''on the authority of Macfarlane, though the description gives another idea".Danser, B.H. 1928.

. ''Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg'', Série III, 9(3–4): 249–438.

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 '' ...

and

Martin Cheek Martin Roy Cheek (born 1960) is a botanist and taxonomist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant Davis, Peter Hadland and Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963) ''Principles of angiosperm taxonomy'' Van Nostrandpage, Princeton, New Jersey, pa ...

as significant features that distinguish it from ''N. hirsuta''. It has been suggested that ''N. hirsuta'' and ''N. hispida'' are extreme variants of the same species, as there exist

intergrade In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both. There are two types of intergradation: primary and secondary intergradation. Primar ...

s between both

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 ...

. Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek suggest that ''N. hispida'' is related to '' N. philippinensis'', a species

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 elsew ...

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

.Schlauer, J. 2000. ''

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 ...

'' 29(2): 53. In his Carnivorous Plant Database, taxonomist

Jan Schlauer Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

treats ''N. hispida'' as a

heterotypic synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

of '' N. hirsuta''.Schlauer, J. N.d
''Nepenthes hispida''
Carnivorous Plant Database.

Description

Distribution and habitat

Taxonomy

References

Further reading