A sexual question

[RainforestGuy]

Is there somewhere that lists the sex of some common nepenthes plants.
We all know that most likely, your N. Dyeriana is a male.
N. Miranda also a male, N. ventricosa Deroos, a male, N. Gentle also a male. Is it a man's world out there in nepenthes land?

I know there are females out there. Anyone know the sexes of N. Coccinea, N. Ventrata, N. ____?

I think this is important and should be listed somewhere.

Thanks Nep-dudes,

MM

 

[seedjar]

I'm pretty sure that there are male and female Ventrata, because it's a cross that's been reproduced several times. As I understand it, only cultivars are monosexual, because all plants of a cultivar are clones of a single, special plant, whereas ordinary hybrids are just any old plant with parents of given species. For example, any time you cross N. ventricosa x N. alata, you get N. x Ventrata. But if you cross N. ventricosa x N. lowii, you won't get N. 'Peter D'Amato,' a cultivar of N. x briggsiana - you'll just get another N. x briggsiana. So hybrids can be of any sex, but plants of a cultivar will always be genetically identical to each other and so they'll have one sex (at least for Nepenthes; as you likely know, many plants are hermaphroditic.)
But that probably doesn't much answer your question.

~Joe

 

[SydneyNeps]

This would probably only work for those hybrids and species cultivars which have been tissue cultured from a single clone (and there are a few), as some of them are results from a particular batch (even in some of the Victorian hybrids, there is more than one clone floating around, and both sexes are represented).

It would also vary depending on geography. For example, in the US most khasiana are female. In Australia they're nearly all from the one male clone.

As for the preponderance of males, it's a trait of most Nepenthes species where males constitute around 75% of all seedlings.

 

[RainforestGuy]

I should have been more specific. Yes, I wanted to know the sexes of tc plants like Gentle, Coccinea (of course there are rc as well as tc clones-thusly specified), and specific clones like Briggsiana v. Peter D'Amato, to name a few.
I understand that crosses will have both sexes present. But since so many of us purchase clones anyway from Malesiana and Borneo Exotics, it would be very helpful to know the sexes in advance.

Many thanks,
M

 

[seedjar]

I suppose this is also pretty obvious, but as a last resort you could just write the big nursuries and ask. It actually might be easier than going around to individual growers to just write each big Nep producer - how many can there be? Certainly there are less nurseries than hobbyists. I'm sure a lot of people here would be interested in your findings. I don't breed Neps, but I would like to some day, and I can certainly imagine that having this type of information at hand would be very helpful.
Best luck,
~Joe

 

[Trent]

I think part of the problem is that most of these tc clones from MT. and BE have not been raised up to blooming size yet, or those that have, are shy bloomers.
As for DeRoose stuff, only the ventrata is female, and she is sterile. Several of us down here in south Fla. have tried to breed with her, but the pods are either full of chafe, or there's no germination of the few seeds present.
MT often has several clones in tc, and I know that one of the campanulata is female.
Does anyone out there know the gender of BE's rafflesiana gigantea clone 99?

 

[RainforestGuy]

Many thanks for your input. Let's keep this post hoing as we find new discoveries.

M