Nepenthes ampullaria (Latin: "ampulla" translates to "flask") is a popular Nepenthes to grow due to it's cute, almost round pitchers. It is endemic to many countries including Thailand, Malaysia, and New Guinea, to name a few. It grows in humid, warm forests or grasslands from sea level to about 2100 meters above.
It is unique in the fact that studies have shown that it has evolved to be not only carnivorous, but also detritivorous by collecting leaves and anything else falling into it's pitchers. You can see that the pitcher lid is flexed all the way back, leaving it exposed to anything that would fall in. This species has less nectar glads (to attract insects, ) less waxy zones, (that would normally keep insect prey from climbing out,) than other Nepenthes, showing it is not as concerned with insects as a source of nutrition.
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| Nepenthes ampullaria 'Brunei Red' |
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| Looking down |
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| Another from the side |
Another habit that makes this Nepenthes unique is it's "carpeting" habit. It makes pitchers spreading across the base of the plant as well as sprouting leads all along the stem. Mine has started carpeting finally. Sometimes the part of the leaf that actually looks like a leaf (the pitchers are just a modified extension of the leaf,) is so small you can't even see it. Pitchers of this species live longer and the "carpet" of pitchers is said to maximize the plants ability to collect falling debris.
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| Carpeting pitchers at the base. |
It's interesting that a carnivoruous plant is evolving away from carnivory and now relies mostly on decaying matter from other plants, like a fungus. Evolution is pretty neat.
now that is seriously cool, thanks for all the info Melody, it was really good to read, much appreciated :)
ReplyDeleteand i think i'll need to get one of these, i love the idea of the carpeting :) keep up the good work :)
Thanks! This is one of the more interesting species for sure, my "carpet" is still pretty small, but when it matures it'll be covered in pitchers. Definitely get one if you have the opportunity! There are so many color forms to chose from, it's another variable species. Keep this one warm to hot, and humid and it does well. It's also not as picky about light levels, some people report it does better in shade than the high light most of the others like. Clearly another adaptation of growing at the base of trees to catch debris I forgot to write about.
DeleteThis would make a wonderful plant on the floor in the dining/living room, to collect fallen debris/food particles. Would assist with the vacuuming I'd think, although I might need more than one plant for this idea to be effective. Just saying. Cool looking pitchers too.
ReplyDeleteLOL, true that would be a helpful use of this one!
DeleteAmpullaria always remind me of cetaceans. They went to all that trouble to make their way onto land, and now they're right back in the sea again. It's a fascinating detour.
ReplyDeleteIt is fascinating, I wonder if ampullaria has always been this way or if it used to have all the carnivorous structures of other Nepenthes. It's odd that it's the only one out of all the Nepenthes that is possibly on it's way to forgoing carnivory, despite many other species cohabiting the same areas that are still strictly carnivores (as far as we know.)
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