Nepenthes alata in bloom

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gore42

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This came as a bit of a surprise to me.... my Nepenthes really don't like me much, since I can't give them the constant high humidity that they need to thrive. This one keeps growing bigger, though the pitchers aren't very nice looking usually.

Anyway, I noticed last week that it was producing some buds, and they are now beginning to open. Here they are:

nepenthes1.jpg


nepenthes2.jpg


nepenthes3.jpg


The blooms are small and hard to photograph with a point and shoot... I can't control the aperture, and the plant keeps moving on me (it's hanging in front of the camera). Hope you like them :)

As Ever,
Matthew Gore
 
Now that's cool! I thought N. alata had a thornier, darker bucket (I almost called it a pouch!)??? Looks like ventricosa???

-Ernie
 
Thats awesome. I had to look it up to refresh my memory, but it looks like a female from the flower column shape.

I tried my first one a couple weeks ago with horrible results. It went down hill the moment i got it home.
 
Ernie - you may be right. I picked this one up at a local nursery, and that's how it was labeled, but you know how these things are... the same nursery has most of their paphs labeled as "Lady Slipper Orchid". On the other hand, all of the pitchers that are visible in the first photo are newly formed.... they do get bigger (about 6" tall) and are reddish on the top half.

- Matt
 
Congratulations! Yes, that is a female plant and I'm no expert but it looks to me like an N. alata. The pitchers on alata are sleeker and more elongated then ventricosa and also do not have the characteristic large peristome or "lip" around the entrance to the pitcher that ventricosa does. Also ventricosa are normally seen in their solid red or spotted form (although there is an alba) where as alata have that green to red gradation that was mentioned.

Nepenthes are categorized into "highland" and "lowland" and of which, alata and ventricosa are the former (although alata does have a lowland form). This means they naturally grow in lower humidity (50 to 90%), although both these species are particularly tolerant. So humidity should not be too much of an issue. Not like it matters here-- whatever you're doing it's working wonders, so keep it up.

If any of you are interested in information on carnivorous plants check out Peter D'Amato's "The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants" it's a really well put together book.

Great job. Wonderful photography. :clap:
 
practicallyostensible said:
Congratulations! Yes, that is a female plant and I'm no expert but it looks to me like an N. alata. The pitchers on alata are sleeker and more elongated then ventricosa and also do not have the characteristic large peristome or "lip" around the entrance to the pitcher that ventricosa does. Also ventricosa are normally seen in their solid red or spotted form (although there is an alba) where as alata have that green to red gradation that was mentioned.

Nepenthes are categorized into "highland" and "lowland" and of which, alata and ventricosa are the former (although alata does have a lowland form). This means they naturally grow in lower humidity (50 to 90%), although both these species are particularly tolerant. So humidity should not be too much of an issue. Not like it matters here-- whatever you're doing it's working wonders, so keep it up.

Well there you go then.

-Ernie
 
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