''Nepenthes ultra'' 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 ...
native to the
Philippine
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 ...
island of
Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
, where it grows at low altitude on
ultramafic
Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are composed ...
soils (hence the name).
''Nepenthes ultra'' belongs to the informal "''N. alata'' group",
which also includes ''
N. alata'', ''
N. ceciliae'', ''
N. copelandii'', ''
N. extincta'', ''
N. graciliflora'', ''
N. hamiguitanensis'', ''
N. kitanglad'', ''
N. kurata'', ''
N. leyte'', ''
N. mindanaoensis'', ''
N. negros'', ''
N. ramos'', and ''
N. saranganiensis''.
[Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Recircumscription of the ''Nepenthes alata'' group (Caryophyllales: Nepenthaceae), in the Philippines, with four new species. ''European Journal of Taxonomy'' 69: 1–23. ][Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Typification and redelimitation of ''Nepenthes alata'' with notes on the ''N. alata'' group, and ''N. negros'' sp. nov. from the Philippines. ''Nordic Journal of Botany'' 31(5): 616–622. ][Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. ''Nepenthes ramos'' (Nepenthaceae), a new species from Mindanao, Philippines. ''Willdenowia'' 43(1): 107–111. ] These species are united by a number of morphological characters, including winged
petioles,
lids with basal ridges on the lower surface (often elaborated into appendages), and upper pitchers that are usually broadest near the base.
References
* Cheek, M. 2014
12 new carnivorous plant species from the Philippines Kew Science Blog, 20 January 2014.
* Mey, F.S. 2013
''Strange Fruits: A Garden's Chronicle'', November 6, 2013.
* Smith, L. 2014
''The Independent'', January 5, 2014.
Carnivorous plants of Asia
ultra
adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...
Plants described in 2013
Taxa named by Martin Cheek
Taxa named by Matthew Jebb
{{Nepenthes-stub