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Compost: Typical
lowland; undemanding.
Watering: Typical; most varieties not especially sensitive under good conditions. Cultivation Difficulty: Easy (1); responds well to standard lowland conditions. Propagation: Easy from cuttings. Distribution: Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra.1 Ecology: Open, wet areas, including peat swamp and kerangas forest; 0-1200 m.1 |
| N. rafflesiana lower pitcher | N. rafflesiana v. nivea
elongata upper pitcher |
N. rafflesiana v. nivea
lower pitcher |
| Named after the founder
of the British Settlement at Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles,2
this is one of the more morphologically varied species, and an easy grower.
Forms range from small, squat pitchers, to the larger, so-called 'giant'
form, as seen here at left. Color variability is equally remarkable,
including 'white' (var. nivea), almost pure red, and nearly everything
in between. A rapid grower, it has produced more than 1 m of vine
per year under our conditions, and roots easily from cuttings. Larger
varieties will quickly outgrow terraria, a fact worth bearing in mind when
considering cultivation of this species.
Upper pitchers of N. rafflesiana var. nivea elongata can grow to over 30 cm in length. However, these do seem to age more rapidly than pitchers of other types of rafflesiana. The lower pitcher of N. rafflesiana var. nivea is another example of our favorite color form. Note the delicate purple cast to the peristome, as well as the tiny purple nectar glands visible on the underside of the operculum. |
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| 1C. Clarke, Nepenthes of Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, 1997, p. 116. |
| 2A. Phillipps and A. Lamb, Pitcher-Plants of Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, 1996, p. 123. |