New Species - Nepenthes leonardoi
Species:
Nepenthes leonardoi
Locality:
Philippines
Date discovered:
November, 2010
Discovery Details
During 2010, Greg Bourke, Mark Jaunzem, Jehson Cervancia and Stewart McPherson encountered a spectacular new species of pitcher plant (Nepenthes) in central Palawan, in the Philippines. This magnificent new plant is closely related to N. mira/N. deaniana/N. gantungensis, but has distinctive pitcher morphology, and uniquely among Palawan Nepenthes, it that it can produce pitchers that are extremely dark, almost black. The black strains are not typical overall, but nevertheless, make the plant very interesting! The pitcher structure is also distinctive, and the traps get up to at least 25 cm or so tall.
Unfortunately, the day we began this expedition, a great Filipino botanists, Leonardo Co (a friend), was shot dead along with two other botanists in Luzon (northern Philippines), in fighting between communist rebels and the government troops. Leonardo had worked intensively for more than three decades, documenting traditional uses of native plants of the Philippines, and studied Nepenthes intensively. It seems a sad irony that this black pitchered plant was found so soon after he died. Permits are currently being sought to name this beautiful plant in his honour.
The formal description of this new species has been submitted for publication and further information will shortly be provided here. Please check back soon for more details or join our newsletter for news on the publication of this plant!
Photos and videos of Nepenthes sp. 'Palawan' are presented in Redfern's stock images and video libraries (please see links to the left).