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N. faizaliana

  • #21
Hi,

what is intersting about this N. faizaliana or N. fusca is the level of digestion fluid in the pitchers. About half of the pitcher is filled, something I didn't see in my other species which normally have about the lower third of their pitchers filled. The plant does this by its own, I don't mist my plants or water the pitchers.

Bill, sadly I won't attend the meeting - it is a long travel from Munich
sad.gif
Christian will come and hopefully picks a plant for me.

Cheers Joachim
 
  • #22
I'm typing this at the airport in Colombo en-route to England with 8 huge boxes of plants. You should have seen their faces at check-in.

According to Ch'ien Lee the "N. faizaliana" from ABG is definitely N. fusca. It is all over the place in Sarawkak and conforms precisely with the type specimens for this species. I am now convinced he's correct.

The N. fusca most of us think of as "typical", grows by the roadside in Sabah and seed is very easy to obtain, hence it is very common in cultivation compared to the form of N. fusca from Sarawak (often mistakenly called N. faizaliana in cultivation until recently). The Sarawak form is usually an epiphyte in the crowns of very large trees and therefore is difficult to find in the wild, although it has a wide distrbution.

We'll have a brand new website up by end of Octoher and hope to have an article on this topic complete with habitat photos that haven't been published before.

To my mind the Sarawak form of N. fusca is a very beautiful Nepenthes and is easy to grow as well.

We have an unusual flared peristome form of N. fusca from Sabah that we cannot decide if it's a hybrid or not. However, when the leaves are more than about 20cm (8") long they start to develop peltate characteristics. Very strange!

See some of you at the EEE next weekend!

Rob
 
  • #23
Hey Rob,

I figured that ABG would be interested in this so I passed it on and here is what our mutual friend had to say:

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">That's interesting, as we NEVER made seed from plants labelled N. fusca and the plant labelled N. faizaliana are sooooo different from fusca that it's not even funny.  John De Kanel gave me fusca recently and I still have N. faizaliana in culture too so we can compare. I'll check. Maybe Chien thinks we have a "new" form of fusca but they sure are different.....[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
 
  • #24
Hi,

FYI the N. faizaliana clone from Malesiana Tropicals has produced a more mature looking pitcher with the expected apendage below the lid:

N_faizaliana_1203.jpg


So I'm quite confident this plant is a true N. faizaliana.
smile.gif


Cheers Joachim
 
  • #25
Hi all,

Just wanted to add a few notes and images to help clarify the issue surrounding these plants.

Joachim wrote:
>FYI the N. faizaliana clone from Malesiana Tropicals has produced a more
>mature looking pitcher with the expected apendage below the lid:

Nice to see a well grown plant!  This is undoubtedly N. faizaliana, but more important to identification than the appendage beneath the lid (since N. fusca and N. stenophylla also have a similar appendage) is the shape of the lid itself.  N. fusca can immediately be distinguished from this species by a triangular lid which can be very narrow particularly in the upper pitchers and frequently has a short apical appendage as well.  The lid of N. faizaliana by contrast is nearly orbicular (sometimes wider than long) and is in fact much more similar to N. stenophylla.

In their description of N. faizaliana Adam & Wilcock made the mistake of comparing the species with N. fusca (from which it is quite distinct) when they should have compared it with N. stenophylla (with which it is very similar).  The problem may have arisen because the type specimen had a broken detached lid, however additional specimens have shown that the lid is indeed orbicular.  

CLP020196.jpg


N. faizaliana can be distinguished most easily from N. stenophylla by its 1-flowered partial peduncles, as opposed to 2-flowered in the latter.  However, I do not agree entirely with Jebb & Cheek that this is the only characteristic which can serve to seperate the two species as there are several vegetative features (especially notable with live plants) which can distinguish them.  Most obvious to horticulturalists is the wider expanded peristome which is usually much more colorful than in N. stenophylla.  The pitchers of N. faizaliana can also reach a much larger size and I have seen some in the field which have measured well over 30 cm in length.  N. faizaliana is restricted to the limestone formations in and around Mulu National Park, whereas N. stenophylla is widespread in montane habitats in northern Borneo.  I agree with Clarke that N. faizaliana is probably most closely related to N. boschiana.  These two species are both restricted to limestone (though N. boschiana has recently been confirmed from ultramafic soils as well), and also have a similar pitcher structure.

On the other hand, the identity of the plants sold by Borneo Exotics (which I believe originated from Atlanta Botanical Gardens) is another issue entirely.  Whilst a very few plants I have seen from this batch have wide orbicular lids (a different cross perhaps?), most have narrowly triangular lids.  I have seen plants very similar to these latter ones at over a dozen localities throughout Sarawak and West Kalimantan and have always regarded them as N. fusca (see photo below of upper pitcher).  This is a bit hard for some collectors to swallow because the plants appear so different to what they have in their collection as N. fusca.  However, much of the confusion has arisen because nearly all of the N. fusca plants which have been grown by horticulturalists (until quite recently) have originated from just a few localities near Mt. Kinabalu and in the Crocker Range in Sabah.  Some taxonomists in fact have argued that the Sabah N. fusca is quite different from the type specimen of the species which was collected in East Kalimantan and actually may not represent the same species.  However I prefer to regard N. fusca as a somewhat variable species which occurs almost throughout Borneo and that the Sabah forms represent one extreme of the variation, especially now considering the well-accepted conclusion that N. maxima does not occur at all in Borneo.  The only other species of Bornean Regiae that shares N. fusca's narrowly triangular lids and infundibuliform upper pitchers is the recently published N. hurrelliana, but this latter species is easily distinguished by a number of other features.

CLP060037.jpg


Pyro wrote:
>Faizaliana is classified as a highland but I find it actually grows better as
>an intermediate. Mine is currently on my deck here in Atlanta and growing very
>well.

Both N. faizaliana and N. fusca can be grown as intermediate plants.  Nepenthes fusca usually ranges from about 500 m to 1500 meters (and above).  I have seen N. faizaliana as low as 400 m at the type locality, but it is more common at 1200 meters and above.  The altitudinal range may not be an indication so much of the temperature requirements of the species, but more as a result of the habitats and amount of rainfall at different elevations.  Despite their tolerance of warmer lowland conditions, both of these species seem to produce better, more colorful pitchers when grown under cooler highland conditions.

I'll be putting together an article for the CPN on this shortly, which will hopefully help to further clarify the issues surrounding these species (particularly N. fusca).  Also, there will be more images and details in the upcoming "Guide to Pitcher Plants of Sarawak" which should be in print soon.

Best regards,
Ch'ien
 
  • #26
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Ch'ien Lee @ Dec. 16 2003,19:14)]On the other hand, the identity of the plants sold by Borneo Exotics (which I believe originated from Atlanta Botanical Gardens) is another issue entirely.  
The plant is from the ABG. I have taken some photos of mine and will attempt to load them shortly.
 
  • #27
The only other species of Bornean Regiae that shares N. fusca's narrowly triangular lids and infundibuliform upper pitchers is the recently published N. hurrelliana, but this latter species is easily distinguished by a number of other features.
Ch'ien,

Isn't the above, the one that is on Rob Cantley's site under N. veitchii, and kind of looks like a purple veitchii with a striped peristome?
I guess that would fall under "other features."

Regards,

Joe
 
  • #28
When trying to identify the differences between nepenthes species, I think it is equaly important if not more important, to look closely at the leaves and stem features. By doing this, you can easily tell the difference between stenophylla and fusca, or stenophylla and faizaliana without even needing to take a second look. N. stenophylla has leaves that are thinner, narrower and longer, and not to meantion that they stay green and have quite a bit of brow hair, and only obtain red on the midrib. N. fusca has leaves that can obtain an uneven coppery coloration, and has less pronounced petionles than stenophylla, and are also thicker and stiffer. N. faizaliana has leaves of a darker green than the previous two, and can easily obtain a complete dark red in the same high lighting, and the leaves deffinately aren't as lengthy as stenophylla, and perhaps not quite as thick as fusca. Edges of the leaves and the young tendril/pitcher bud can have some short, thick brown hairs. If one were to look at the three plants completely from top to bottom, the differences would be quite obvious.
 
  • #29
Hi Ch'ien,

many thanks for your very interesting reply! Without having seen these plants in habit it is quite difficult to judge wether a plant is labeled right from the type description and the pictures available. As far as I remember I did not see more than about five pictures from adult pitchers up to now and of course none shows immature pitchers. Can you tell us at which location the seed of the plants sold by MT were collected? - I'm intersted in having location data for the plants I grow.

Cheers Joachim
 
  • #30
Took me longer than I anticipated but here are some pics of the N. faizaliana that the ABG grows (this is my plant from them directly)

An older pic of the entire plant
faizi%20plant.JPG


A pic of the most recent pitcher
fazi%20newest.jpg


The lid of that pitcher from above
fazi%20lid.jpg


And the lid from below
fazi%20lid%20under.jpg
 
  • #31
Pyro, that does look like the "sarawak" form of N. fusca that I've seen for sale at a number of places online.
 
  • #32
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Joachim Danz @ Dec. 22 2003,07:54)]Can you tell us at which location the seed of the plants sold by MT were collected? - I'm intersted in having location data for the plants I grow.
Hi Joachim,

Unless MT has acquired new N. faizaliana since I left (which is highly doubtful), all their stock comes from seed which originated on G. Api at 1100m.  This is a limestone mountain in northern Sarawak.

Best regards,
Ch'ien
 
  • #33
i got the true faizaliana

834N_Faizaliana_1_1_-med.jpg


my has leave that are marron color
 
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