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Ampularia vine pitchers...

schloaty

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He, quickie for all of you neppies that have older ampularia. Do the vines not like to pitcher? My plant is vining (18" to 24"...haven't actually measured), and making basal pitchers like mad, but the buds on the vine don't seem to want to swell. Is this normal?
 
I read in the book "the Carnivorous Plants of Singapore" that amps rarely grow uppers and even when they do they are upside down and less then 1\2in.
 
Hi
That is true, upper pitchers on Nepenthes ampullaria are very rare.
There are 2 pics on the 2 books: "Nepenthes of Borneo" and on " Nepenthes of Sumatra and peninsular Malaysia" by Charles Clarke: 2 masterpieces!!!!

Regards

rajah
 
I have never seen a pic of an amp upper.

What purpose might it serve to stay in a juvenile rosettes state? Or is it an environmental factor?

Joe
 
The latest theory on amp is that it's actually a vegetarian carnivorous plant, if you can believe that. If you have ever seen it on the jungle floor it's a lot easier to accept. As you will know, the pitchers carpet the floor and cover big areas and the lids hang back so that the pitchers end up full of leaves and rubbish. This supposedly becomes fertiliser in the pitchers and prelim studies show that amp isn't particularly good at catching insects.

The fact that amp rarely produces upper pitchers fits in well with this theory as they would be redundant.

Cheers, Troy.
 
Dave,
I think that what you were referring to are not upper traps, but the vine pitchers, which appear as clusters of traps along the vine, above the ground carpet.
It's really hard to get amps to do that, and it may be a function of age. A friend of ours has some pretty big amps that are grown in a grow chamber-here in Florida, and they are producing the pitcher clusters along vines that are about four to five feet tall. At this point the vine becomes woody, and the clusters break thru at the nodes.
Also, I suspect you need consistent very high humidity for a very long time to get them to perform this way.
We anxiously await the day ours will do the same!
 
Dave/Trent,

In addition to the clusters that appear on stems (which are lower pitchers), amps do occasionally produce upper pitchers. It is very rare. The upper pitchers are absolutely tiny and easy to miss if you're not looking for them. Dave, don't be disappointed if it's not producing them, they are singularly unimpressive. Rosettes on the climbing vine, however, are a completely different matter, and can be quite spectacular.

Hamish
 
Upper pitchers also have the tendril attachment and the lid attached on the same side of the pitcher. I've seen one at Mike Catalani's, it was interesting nonetheless but boring.
 
Here's a picture of my N. ampularia 'Green'.  Does that count as an upper pitcher?
658Picture_12376.jpg

Also mine has vine pitchers that started growing about a month ago, they are so cool.  The picture only shows 2 but there are five nodes growing them.
658Picture_12377.jpg

-Nick Z.
 
  • #10
thats a vine pitcher but I don't think its an upper. The uppers attache on the backside like NG stated.
 
  • #11
Yep, they're lower pitchers - see how the pitcher mouth is facing the tendril. In upper pitcher, the mouth faces away from the tendril, and the pitcher is infundibulate (funnel-shaped). The internodal distance on the climbing vine on which uppers are occasionally produced is also very large, 20+cm.
 
  • #12
20041009-CP-show-N.ampullaria spotted.jpg


Yummy

Now... why won't my red amp put out basal pitchers? It's about a meter tall now.
 
  • #14
Thanks for all the responses!

I was actually referring to pitchers from the leaves on the vine, not rossettes of lower pitchers from the already woody part...I have those already starting at the bottom.  
The main reason I was asking was to determine whether it was worthwile to make a cutting of the vine, as it's getting quite long, and no longer producing pitchers at the ends of its leaves.  From what I remember, most vine cuttings only produce upper pitchers....But then it strikes me that maybe amps are different because the have the ability to make those lower pitcher rossettes all the way up the woody stem.
 
  • #15
D muscipula that is the biggest amp ive ever seen,how long have you had it?
Bye for now Julian
 
  • #16
What clone? lol I may have to trade with you sometime for a chunk of that beast!
 
  • #17
DM,
That is outstanding! Some of the pitchers are so tall and narrow(for an amp), I thought for a moment that was N. x trichocarpa.

Cheers,

Joe
 
  • #18
[b said:
Quote[/b] (fatboy @ Mar. 16 2005,3:11)]This supposedly becomes fertiliser in the pitchers and prelim studies show that amp isn't particularly good at catching insects.
ive heard the leaf litter ferilizer theory and it seems to hold merrit to me. but on amps being poor insect catchers, ive got a speckled amp that usually catches more flies than my Drosera capensis (my other major fly catcher) so apperently it didnt get the memo
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #19
Schloaty - you answered your own question. Take the cuttings, they will produce basals and rosettes once they get going.
 
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