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Upper and Lower Pitchers

How do you tell the difference between them? Do all Nepenthes have them both???? How do you make them produce specific ones?
 
Usually, in upper pitchers, the tendril is behind the pitcher, while in lower pitchers, the tendril is in front or to the side. There are exceptions, though. Also, the upper pitchers often don't have any wings, and often aren't as colorful as the lower pitchers. All Nepenthes AFAIK can make them, but plants like N. rajah don't seem to in cultivation, because the stem tends to die before they are produced.

The only way that a plant will make upper pitchers is if the plant is vining. Along the vine is where upper pitchers are made. Lower pitchers are made on the rosette towards the ground. Sometimes, I think, if a cutting is made from a vine making these upper pitchers, that cutting will too make upper pitchers.

-Ben
 
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No, not all nepenthes have both. N. campanulata only has 1 type of pitcher, and some like N. rajah rarely produce them, and in N. ampullaria for example, it's practically vestigial when it does decide to make them.

There's one plant, I forget which one, but it has never been documented to have pitchers so maybe it evolved to quit making them. I think that it probably makes them, but someone got a plant that just happened to not have any.

You can't make it produce certain ones. They start with lowers (tendril in front) and as they get older and longer the tendril moves the the side and that's called an intermediate pitcher, then the tendril moves to the back and can (not in all species, but in most) become prehensile and grab onto things.


Lower N. rafflesiana
http://www.exoticaplants.com/backissue/9/database/cps/nepenthes/meltrp/nep-raf2.jpg

Upper N. rafflesiana
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/3/37/200px-Nepenthes_rafflesiana.jpg


EDIT: Ben got it.
 
If the tendril is always in back when it's an upper pitcher then would it make sense that my ventrata, which is in the rosette stage, is making what seems like uppers? The only pitcher isn't fully developed yet, but I can see some long thing coming out the back, like on my N. miranda.
 
No, I said that there are exceptions, except that it is just that all upper pitchers will be made with the tendril in the back, but not all lower pitchers will be made with the tendril in the front. You just have to have a keen eye for what the upper pitchers look like.

N. x ventrata upper pitchers are light green in color with a sort of more "raised-up" peristome. Most upper pitchers have that sort of more elongated and 'snobby' look to them. Lol, I'm bad at describing stuff....

Look here for pics of N. x ventrata vining and making uppers.

-Ben
 
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Clint i think the plant you're talking about is N. mollis. The holotype has no pitchers and another plant has never been found.
 
Look here for pics of N. x ventrata vining and making uppers.

LOL. That's hilarious a little further down that page where the guy looks like he is cooking some spaghetti or something and then he has a picture of a cooking pot with bark, peat, and perlite in it. I guess I've been doing it all wrong if I'm supposed to cook my various media materials!

Sometimes, I think, if a cutting is made from a vine making these upper pitchers, that cutting will too make upper pitchers.

Do you mean that it will start and only make uppers?

xvart.
 
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YES! That's what I was thinking of, thank you!

It's not difficult to tell if a pitcher is making uppers or lowers. Uppers tend to be more graceful and less colorful, although with some plants like N. lowii and N. inermis, the uppers are cool while the lowers are "boring". If you post a pic we can tell you what it is.

Look at these two examples. The first is more graceful than the second, but they are both uppers. Notice how the tendril attaches to the back and while the angles are different, they are both uppers.

http://gelinaud.free.fr/carni/images/ventrata4.jpg
http://www.lihikset.net/images/nepenthes/nep1.jpg


Here is N. bicalcarata.

Upper:
http://nepenthes.merbach.net/images/bic_head.jpg

Lower:
http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Christian.Puff/images/SEA-0698Nep_bicalc_2.jpg

Some plants can go their whole lives and not make a single loop! These species tend to be the leathery species like N. truncata and N. villosa, N. veitchii.

See? It's easy! *Breaks into musical number singing how to tell uppers from downers.... I mean lowers*


Oh and tripleX, that's our member from Milan named Mr. Aga. Also, if you make a cutting and the node that activates was a node that came from a leaf that made an upper, it'll pick up where it left off at that point and continue to make uppers. If it was an intermediate leaf, it will continue to make intermediates and then uppers. If you want lowers on that plant, you have to wait for a basal and waiting SUCKS! That's why I like my plants to arrive when they are still in the rosette stage of their life.
 
  • #10
Look at these two examples. The first is more graceful than the second, but they are both uppers. Notice how the tendril attaches to the back and while the angles are different, they are both uppers.
AFAIK the second are lowers. to be a TRUE upper pitcher it has to have a loop. ive seen exceptions though with plants like N. inermis that dont curl. the reason for the loop is so it can grab on to twigs and branches so it can support the vine. as stated N. veitchii has its own way of overcoming this by wraping the leaves around trunks of trees.
Alex
 
  • #11
Yup. And that's why rooted cuttings of plants with desirable upper pitchers can cost a lot, like N. eymae.

-Ben

Gotcha. That's what I thought, I just got confused with the way it was worded in your response. Thanks, Ben.

xvart.
 
  • #12
I took several cuttings of my N. x edinensis and only the top part of the vine produced uppers, the rest have lowers.
 
  • #13
AFAIK the second are lowers. to be a TRUE upper pitcher it has to have a loop. ive seen exceptions though with plants like N. inermis that dont curl. the reason for the loop is so it can grab on to twigs and branches so it can support the vine. as stated N. veitchii has its own way of overcoming this by wraping the leaves around trunks of trees.
Alex

I have several "true" uppers right now that don't curl. Most do, however. N. truncata doesn't have prehensile uppers either for example.
 
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