Rediscovered Species - Nepenthes pilosa
Species:
Nepenthes pilosa
Locality:
Borneo
Date discovered:
June 2006
Discovery Details
Nepenthes pilosa was first encountered in 1899 on Bukit Batu Lesung, a remote ridge in the mountainous interior of Borneo.
After 1899, Bukit Batu Lesung remained unvisited by botanists with knowledge of Nepenthes for more than one hundred years. Thus, for the entire course of this period, no further observations of the N. pilosa type were made. During the 20th century, populations of a Nepenthes taxon were discovered in the north west of Borneo, especially across the Crocker Range in Sabah; the newly discovered plants were reminiscent of the specimens collected on Bukit Batu Lesung and were similarly hairy. They were eventually regarded as similar to the specimens from Bukit Batu Lesung and therefore recorded as N. pilosa.
In June 2006, Dr. Charles Clarke and Stewart McPherson travelled to Bukit Batu Lesung in an attempt to relocate the original population of N. pilosa and thereby establish whether the plants at the type locality were indeed the same as the more recently discovered populations across north Borneo. They retraced the footsteps of the original expedition and eventually refound the original population of N. pilosa which had first been observed 107 years earlier. It was clear that the type form of N. pilosa differed from all of the other populations that had been discovered since. Those plants more recently discovered and incorrectly regarded as N. pilosa were later described as a separate species, N. chaniana. The plants on Bukit Batu Lesung represent the only known population of N. pilosa.
Further information and several photos of Nepenthes deaniana feature in Redfern's recently released book titles Pitcher Plants of the Old World Volume One and Pitcher Plants of the Old World Volume Two by Stewart McPherson. Both volumes are available online for immediate dispatch - Please see Redfern book catalogue (left) for more details or to place an order.
Please view our stock image and stock video libraries (links to the left) for photographs and video clips of this exciting little known plant!