Nepenthes veitchii

Synonymy

Nepenthes veitchii Hook.f. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 22: 421. 1859 sec. Cheek & Jebb 2001

Lectotype: Borneo, Lobb s.n. (K)

=Nepenthes lanata Hort. ex Mast. in Gard. Chron. n.s. 17: 178. 1882 syn. sec. Cheek & Jebb 2001
–Nepenthes lanata Mast. in Gard. Chron. 1872: 542. 1872, nom. nud., syn. sec. Cheek & Jebb 2001
–Nepenthes lanata Hort. ex Linden in Ill. Hort. 23: t. 261. 1876, , nom. inval., syn. sec. Anonymous 2017+: http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:603746-1

–Nepenthes veitchii var. striata Veitch in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, 12: 561. 1892, nom. nud., syn. sec. Cheek & Jebb 2001

Content

Other sources

Danser, B. H. 1928: – Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 9: 391

Phillipps, A. & Lamb, A.L. 1996: Pitcher Plants of Borneo: 144, f. 77 & 78

Clarke, C. M. 1997: Nepenthes of Borneo. – Kota Kinabalu: Natural History Publications: 131, f. 91 & 92

Jebb, M. H. P. & Cheek, M. R. 1997: A skeletal revision of Nepenthes. – Blumea 42(1): 1-106: 89

Description

Epiphytic or terrestrial climber (rarely a shrub) 0.5-6(-10) m tall, climbing by means of the clasping, distichous leaf blades. Stem often flexuose, ± terete, rarely 2-ridged, 4-10 mm diam. Leaves coriaceous, petiolate, obovate to oblanceolate, rarely suborbicular (10-)14-25 by 4-10 cm, apex truncate to retuse, rarely acute, base cuneate to ob-tuse; petiole to 5 cm long, canaliculate, sheathing the stem, not auriculate, but rarely with two decurrent wings reaching the node below. Longitudinal nerves 2-4 on each side of the midrib in the outer half, often inconspicuous. Pennate nerves slightly oblique, faint near margin, inconspicuous. Lower pitchers broadly cylindrical, broadest near the middle, 15-28 by 4-10 cm, with two fringed wings 4-5 mm wide, fringed elements 5-7 mm long, 3-4 mm apart; mouth ovate, horizontal in front, abruptly concave behind, rising into a long, broad, stout column terminating c. 9 cm above the front of the mouth; peristome flattened, 4-15 mm wide at front, 10-80 mm wide near lid, the ribs 0.5-1 mm apart, outer edge undulate, inner edge with teeth 2-4 mm long; lid held towards vertical, at obtuse angle with mouth, narrowly ovate or elliptic, 3-9 by 1.75-5 cm, apex acute to rounded, base rounded, with a laterally flattened asymmetrical appendage c. 6 mm high, 20 mm long on the lower surface near the peristome and often a smaller one at the apex, glands dense, crater-like, orbicular, c. 0.2 mm diam., on the appendages elliptic, 1.75 mm long; spur entire, slender, 3-14 mm long, inconspicuous. Upper pitchers as the lower, to 30 by 8.5 cm, with two fringed wings 5-10 mm wide, fringed elements c. 10 mm long, 2-7 mm apart. Male inflorescence 17-45 cm long; peduncle 14-27 cm long; partial peduncles c. 50, 2- (or 3-)flowered, 0.5-2 mm long; bracts absent; pedicels 9-14 mm long; tepals elliptic, 4 by 1.5 mm; androphore 2.5-4 mm long; anther head 1 by 1.5 mm. Fruit long and slender, valves 35(-40) by 2-2.5 mm. Seed fusiform, c. 18 mm long, central part tuberculate. Indumentum dense, spreading, of simple, coppery hairs 3 mm long, on stem, lower leaf, tendril and pitcher, including lower surface of lid when young, becoming sparser, in places glabrous, when mature. Colour of pitcher golden yellow or green, rarely splashed with red, peristome striped red and yellow or all green, yellow or brown.A

Notes

Nepenthes veitchii is immediately recognisable from its close relative N. fusca by the very broad, flattened peristome and the dense, hispid hairs. Possibly unique in the genus in climbing by means of distichous clasping leaf blades. There ap-pears to be a lowland form of N. veitchii with long, narrow, spathulate leaves, a narrow lid, and a golden yellow peristome, which is often found near streams or rivers, and a highland form, with abruptly rectangular-elliptic blades, a rounded lid, and usually a green and red streaked (but sometimes yellow) peristome, which is commonly found on ridge tops. But morphological intermediates occur. Nepenthes veitchii is variable in life-form, apparently starting as a terrestrial shrub, then climbing, the stem dying below and the plant becoming epiphytic, reaching up to 30 m into tree crowns (pers. obs.). Part of the N. maxima complex.
William Hooker published (Hooker in Bot. Mag. (1858) t. 5080) the first description of N. veitchii basing it on a Lobb collection from Sarawak, taking it to be the then incompletely known N. villosa Hook.f. which had been published without knowledge of the pitchers. His error was realised by his son Joseph who applied a new name to this plant (N. veitchii Hook.f., Trans. Linn. Soc. 22 (1859) 421), citing a Lobb specimen from 1000 ft and a Low specimen from G. Mulu at 3000 ft. The former specimen at Kew is the lectotype. It was previously identified as N. villosa in pencil, and this has been partly rubbed out, presumably indicating that it was the specimen mistaken by William.A

Jebb & Cheek (1997) and Cheek & Jebb (2001) state that this is a nomen nudum, but it is accompanied by a detailed description - needs to be looked at more closely. B

Distribution (General)

Borneo: C Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, rarely in Kalimantan.A

Habitat

Lowland dipterocarp forest, especially near rivers, 55-500 m; moss forest on mountain ridges;750-1800 m.A

Bibliography

A. Cheek, M. R. & Jebb, M. H. P. 2001: Flora Malesiana - Nepenthaceae, Series I, Volume 15. – Leiden: Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Universiteit Leiden branch

B. Berendsohn, W. G. & al. 2018: Using the EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy to prepare and publish a treatment for the Caryophyllales Network: an online synthesis of the Nepenthaceae. – Willdenowia 48: 335-344. http://doi.org/10.3372/wi.48.48301

Specimens

	Country	Date	Collector + collecting number	Herbaria	Type	Scan	Derivatives
			Lobb s.n.	K
	Citation: Borneo, Lobb s.n. Specimen summary: K Lectotype of Nepenthes veitchii Hook.f.