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N. ventricosa or a hybrid of ventricosa?

I aquired this nep a while back and it has now produced a sizeable pitcher for identification. I think its a ventricosa or a hybrid of it. What do you all think?

Mystery.jpg
 
Looks like pure N. Ventricosa to me.  

SF

Edit: On second thought, shouldn't the pitchers be more bulbous?
 
Hmm I dunno, could be N. x ventrata...could you get a photo of the plant and it's leaves if possible?
 
It looks like my ventrata.

tobaica2.jpg

ventrata.jpg


This is a ventricosa
ventricosa.jpg


But, then again, maybe the pitchers have not filled out. How mature is the plant?
 
I got the plant as a cutting back in summer of this year. The owner did not know the ID either and just labeled it as "Mystery". I will take more pictures later tonight when the batteries in my camera finish charging.
 
I will take newer pictures as well. Mine is forming a semi-scalloped peristome, as is yours. I do believe this is a ventrata.

Nice Raff pitcher in the background!
 
I am 99% certain I have both ventricosa and Xventrata... the colouration can be very similar, the squat bulbous shape of ventricosa is not very pronounced when they are young... If you have both, the differences become quite noticeable side by side as they age; if you just have one plant, it's a bit tricky but this is how mine compare, maybe it could help:

-the peristome ridges on ventrata are very thin and close together, more so than on ventricosa.

-ventrata is more shiny, both the peristome and outside of the pitcher.

-in a side view, the ventrata peristome slopes more sharply than ventricosa (tilts up to the lid at a sharp angle, ventricosa peristome is less angled) Ventrata has a very distinctive side shape... the ventricosa when young was similar but the pitcher mouths always seemed to lie flatter than on the ventrata.

-ventrata produces a ton of nectar drops all over the leaves and outside surface of the pitchers... ventricosa not so much but its "mouth waters"... there is always liquid on the lip of the peristome.

-looking into the mouth, the inside surface at the back of the pitcher is very light and whitish/greenish in ventrata, ventricosa the inside is less contrasting (more beige/rosy)

-tendril length vs. pitcher height... my ventrata has tendrils that are usually longer than the pitchers... the ventricosa tendrils are usually shorter than the pitchers (so the ventricosa pitchers sort of 'sit up higher')

-the older the plants, the more they differ... mine looked identical this spring, they are now very different. The ventricosa picture from malesiana tropicals is maybe not the best for comparison... I will try to dig up some pictures of the other colour forms which are more common.

Looks like a ventricosa to me, judging by the large pitcher on the right.
 
Well here is a top view of the plant. I hope it helps in the ID process.

R0010003.JPG
 
This may be a dumb question, but are the two rosettes definitely coming from the same plant? Because if the supplier stuffed a ventrata and a ventricosa together into one pot that would definitely complicate things...
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One other thing I notice about ventricosa... grows more compactly and a little more slowly than my ventrata.

But dang these things are variable. My plants have changed colour rather drastically twice... once when I brought them home (outside) from the store, and again when they went under the fluorescents in fall. Ventricosa went from very half red/half green pitchers to all-over reddish pitchers... ventrata did the exact opposite.
 
  • #10
Those 2 plants are from 2 cuttings of the same stem that I stuck side by side. I am hope we can narrow it down further to more then a 50/50 guess
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  • #11
I vote for N. x ventrata. The leaves look very close. I'd say it's still just juvenile, give it some time to "spread it's wings"
 
  • #13
I must be in agreement here, N. Ventrata. However, one of those pitchers is pretty hefty, left side.
 
  • #14
hmm i brought a plant that sort of looks like a ventricosa but the stem is red... and i have never seen a ventricosa with a red stem...
 
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