A Brand New Introduction to Cultivation!

Nepenthes truncata 'Queen of Hearts' x 'King of Spades'

This is a very special new release, which we believe to be the most exciting in the history of this company and one we hope may be of significant historical and scientific importance - the introduction to horticulture of a Nepenthes believed to be extinct in the wild. We believe in our maxim "conservation through cultivation" and can think of no better example than this.

As many of you might know, sometime back we crossed two of the known 9 plants of this rarest of rare forms of Nepenthes. This form is so different to the usual form of Nepenthes truncata that it’s arguably a unique species in it’s own right but for now we will use the accepted nomenclature. The area where this plant originated was deforested by logging in the late 1990s and this variety is believed to be extinct in the wild. The 9 mature specimens, which are now 11 years old, were raised from seed in our nurseries.

The 'Queen of Hearts' in our nursery. (She's on the right!)

The female parent of this new release, known as ‘Queen of Hearts’ is very probably the most photographed Nepenthes in history, and perhaps the largest Nepenthes ever cultivated, having appeared on several of our Chelsea Flower show exhibits and also the 2008 Singapore Garden Festival, where it was photographed by most of the 300,000+ visitors over the 8 day period of the show.

Diana Williams unpacking the 'Queen of Hearts' during setup for the 2008 Singapore Garden Festival Exhibit.

The 'Queen of Hearts' on exhibit at the Singapore Garden Festival 2008.

The male parent named ‘King of Spades’ is actually darker in colouration than the female and has green wings as the photograph below illustrates. The plants offered from this cross will be ready for shipping commencing mid September on a first-come-first-served basis. This is a limited offer of seed-grown plants and once stocks are exhausted, it cannot be repeated for several years.

The male parent, 'King of Spades' in our nursery.

Sale plants are XS size, being about 2.5cm (1”) in diameter but are hard. They are all individual clones produced from seed. At the present time, few of the plants designated to be shipped are yet exhibiting colouration in the pitchers but out of 45 specimens in a tray that have been exposed to high light levels, all 45 are now showing colour. Consideration of this experiment plus basic genetics, indicate a strong likelihood that the vast majority of these plants will develop colourful pitchers, although there will certainly be differences in depth and distribution of colouration between individuals.
Differences in pitcher morphology, plant vigour and size when mature, can also be expected between individuals.

Typical seedling showing early onset of colouration.

Please contact your local Distributor for details of price and availability. We have tried to make this plant as affordable as possible and hope you have great pleasure in growing them.