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Hey everyone,

I am curious if any of you know of odd colored leaves Nepenthes? I have become fascinated with seeing red leaves and beige colored leaves in my terrarium. I would like to know all the Nepenthes they can think of with this odd color trait.

I currently own...

- Spectabilis x Veitchii (Blood Red furry leaves)
- Ampullaria 'Tayeve' (Beige/Dark Green leaves)

I know Nepenthes Mikei has dark leaves, but I would like to know of more that have not your typical green leaves. I think it's become my new passion to have a Nepenthes of every different color possible leaves in my terrarium to tell them apart from one another.

Any information would be helpful.

Sincerey,
Teejay Hart
 
My N. belli has dark maroon/brown/bronze leaves. i'm really not sure what to call the color.

its over 12 inches from 440 watts of VHO fluorescent light. the lights are full spectrum and i think they are 5000K
 
Good point Justlikeapill. Environment will make a very big difference. Sometimes the exact same plant can look totally different from one grower to another. Listing your lighting type, amount, distance to the plants as well as amount of natural light and intensity AND temperature ranges would help a ton in understanding coloration between different growers.
Tony
 
Good point, I will have half that much wattage for my terrarium.

Bronze, that is the best way to describe my Ampullaria 'Tayeve' leaves and that's only under 80watts.
 
I had a perfectly green N. ventricosa, producing one new green leaf after another, being on a window sill. After a few weeks outside the leaves have turned bronze.
 
My N. spectabilis "Gunhung Bandahara" form has solid maroon leaves. N. x Miranda also makes red leaves for me.
 
How about a variegated N. bellii? (got this one from Malesiana tropicals)
bellii.jpg
 
wow.. you don't see that everyday! the only other variegated nep i've seen is N. alata.

if you ever want to get that plant off your hands, remember your ole' buddy clint hehehe


since tony mentioned other factors, my temops are 89-93 in the day, low-mid 80's at night, and recieves no natural light.
 
I like that variegated nep.
 
  • #10
I didn't know there was such thing as a variegated Nepenthes. Wow. That will be added to the list and it's a Bellii! Sorry, but Alata just doesn't appeal to me, at all.
 
  • #11
I've seen Maxima produce dark purple leaves that ruffle.  Phil of Meadoview Botonical Research owns it.  It is just simply to die for.
 
  • #12
There seem to be more and more of these variegated things coming out of tissue culture.  They are caused by some cells within the meristem having a genetic problem.  They come and go from one leaf to the next depending on what proportion of the mutated cells go into forming the plant part.  Variegated traits being the less stable of the various chimeras.
Some interesting reading on the subject Chimeras

Tony
 
  • #13
Thanks Tony, that indeed interesting. I think I will just stick to natural coloration. I am not a fan of TC.
 
  • #14
Thought I might add a few pics to colour this thread up.

Note that we are mid winter right now and the colouration in most cases is reduced with the short daylight period.  Also note that at this stage I use no fertilisers or any other additive, so the markings/colours are assumably just what the plants are like.

N. thorelli.  This plant came in almost completely green.  The pinker leaves that you see where leaves that grew at the end of last summer.  The more resent leaves don’t have quite the same pink colour, but I am assuming that is due to it being Winter and expect they’ll colour up once the sun pick up intensity through Spring/Summer.
NThorelliLeafColour.jpg


N. rafflesiana ‘Elongata’.  Its only grown the 2 greener leaves since in my care, so I am not sure if they will colour up the same as the older leaves or not.
NRafflesianaLeafColour.jpg


N. Eustacha.  I have quite a few plants that produce the slightly redder leaves to start with, but as the leaf ages it goes more green.  This Eustachya is probably the most extreme that I have.
NEustachyaLeafColour.jpg


N. maxima ‘Green’.  This was the biggest shot to me.  When I got this plant it was COMPLETELY green like the pitchers you see.  In a matter of days it started to yellow/redden and I thought I was loosing it.  Now many months On I realise it is just what it did in response to the light levels.  The leaf on the left is one of the original.  The leaf on the right is one of the new leaves.  As you can see the colouration is now more uniform in the new leaves.  The pitchers are still ALL green as you can see with the newest one just on the left.  By the way… that pitcher is just over 12” (30cm) and but 20-30% bigger than the last.  Fingers crossed that size increase continues for a while!
NMaximaLeafColour.jpg


As for light levels for you to compare.  They are all kept in a glasshouse.  The only thing between the plants and the sun right now is the glass and a single layer of bubble wrap.  IF it’s a clear sky, right now they get about 5-6 hours of direct sun (Winter).  Summer that would go up to 10-12 hours but I use 50% shade cloth.

Aaron.

Edit: Forgot one...N. veitchii.
NVeitchiiLeaf_Colour.jpg
 
  • #15
N. x manny herrera makes green pitchers and green leaves, but if put in direct sun (it doesn't semm to mind that at all) its leaves get deep purple-red. It looks almost neon on leaves that still have some green.

JA
 
  • #16
Often the reddish leaf color is caused by cool nights. Our Mirandas always have bronzy colored leaves in winter when subjected to temperatures below 60 F. During the summer they are bright green. Others need bright light as Hamata mentioned. Here in Florida during the winter we get bright days and cool nights. Thorellii, eustachya, albomarginata (at least the clones we have) get very reddish, even purple, leaves during winter.
Trent
 
  • #17
I have a N. Eustacha that is completely red/purple. Infact, it's actually a N. Eustacha red x purple! Pitchers, leaves, everything. Really cool looking!
smile.gif
....of course I don't have a pic yet, lol.
 
  • #18
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Often the reddish leaf color is caused by cool nights.

Interesting Trent.  I had not considered that but it makes sense, as many of my plants that where pure green have taken on a slight bronze colour through the recent winter months.  Some that have include: venticosa, sanguinea, atala, maxima, etc.

Minimun average night temp would be around 16C (60F) with a few spikes to say 12-13C (53-55F).

Why would it be that low temps have this effect??
 
  • #19
Hi Aaron,
It's a complex of compounds that form the color, the most commonly known being anthocyanins. It also has to do with sugar formation coupled with cool nights: lower temps and metabolizing sugars produced during the day(photosynthesis).

I noticed your raff elongata. The red markings on the older leaves is definitely caused by cool nights. Is that the clone the Mansell's are now offering?

Trent
 
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