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Featured Species |
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Nepenthes copelandii – Discovery and Rediscovery This interesting species was originally found on Mt. Apo near Davao on the Island of Mindanao in the Philippines and was described by Macfarlane in 1908. The name Nepenthes copelandii was given in honor of the botanist and then curator of the Manila Herbarium. Unfortunately, herbarium specimens of many genus of plants in the Manila herbarium were lost in the Second World War, including unfortunately the type specimen of Nepenthes copelandii. In 1996 an ornithological expedition to Mindanao traveled to Mt. Pasian near Bislig. Amongst the members of the expedition were Rob Cantley and Andrew Kelly, who are both Nepenthes enthusiasts. In the hills surrounding the mountain they spotted some Nepenthes growing near the roadside. Happy for an excuse to escape the bumpy jeepny for a few minutes, they stopped and took a look. Some of the photographs shown here are of poor quality because of the rain, but are probably the first ever taken of this species. |
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It took
some time to realize that this really was a rediscovered species
but there is now little doubt. In 1998 a German led expedition to
Mt. Apo discovered more plants matching the description of Nepenthes
copelandii with the general appearance of the plants almost identical
to the ones found on Mt. Pasian. No formal reinstatement of the
species has yet been made but it will probably happen when a male
flowering plant is available for examination. |
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Nepenthes copelandii – Cultivation All the plants in cultivation today originate from a single seed collection from the colony of plants on Mt. Apo. Through the techniques of tissue culture, a very few seeds have yielded a large number of plants which are now readily available commercially. N. copelandii is an intermediate highlander, which means that it tolerates quite a wide range of temperatures and it’s also vigorous. The lower pitchers are generally cylindrical, with the uppers being more or less infundibulate (funnel shaped). Whilst the colony of N. copelandii discovered in 1996 on Mt. Pasian had upper pitchers that were mostly white, as shown in the awful out-of-focus photograph above, the colony on Mt. Apo generally has upper pitchers that are red speckled underneath the lid. Lower pitchers are also richly colored dark purple. |
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This species
is an easy grower in any typical Nepenthes media we have tried and
is recommended for beginners as well as the serious collector. In
habitat the species has been observed growing both epiphytically
and terrestrially. It seems to have no problems growing in pots
as some of the photographs here show. Upper pitchers appear when
the vine has climbed to a height of about 2m (6’) and multiple
basal shoots are easy to induce by training the primary growing
tip to droop below the level of the pot. |
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