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Nepenthes sibuyanensis |
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Description Nepenthes sibuyanensis is another exciting new species known only from Mt. Guiting-Guiting on the island of Sibuyan in the Rhomblon Province of the Philippines. This species inhabits the many windswept rocky ridges leading up to the peak of the mountain and is closely related to N. ventricosa, which is more widely distributed throughout the Philippine islands and also the far rarer enigmatic N. burkei. However, unlike N. ventricosa, this species produces extremely long tendrils that seek to place the developing pitcher in a suitably sheltered place.
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The long meandering
tendril will sometimes burrow through detritus on a narrow cliff shelf
and emerge some distance away where the pitcher will develop, anchored
by the buried tendril. Another difference between this species and N.
ventricosa is size; N. sibuyanensis is generally a larger and more robust
plant and pitcher size can attain up to 30cm (12”) in length with
a hard waxy texture. Pitcher colouration varies from pale green through
red to stunning deep purple. |
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Cultivation This species is easy to cultivate and may be treated as intermediate-highland in much the same way as N. ventricosa. We are growing it successfully in our lowland nursery which has temperatures of 25 deg. C min at night up to a daytime and maximum of 36 deg. C during the day. However, it grows rather better in our highland nursery which has a night/day temperature range of 12deg C to 25 deg. C. This is quite close to the temperatures it experiences in it’s natural habitat. In cultivation the tendril will seek to burrow through potting fiber and emerge some distance away. If you’re not careful you may find your plant has sneakily anchored itself firmly to one or more neighbouring pots! At the time of writing (March 2002) we have a good stock of seed raised plants, all of different clones. We shall soon be releasing up to 24 clones from tissue culture, which will later be documented for colouration and sex. Additional photos will be added to this gallery shortly.
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