The biggest pitcher plant of Philippines

1 of the exquisite tropical wonders of Philippines is its biggest pitcher plant Nepenthes attenboroughii which is popular for its big bell shaped upper and reduced pitchers. This amazing specie is recorded as generating extremely big pitchers in the world. This species was named in the honor of Sir David Attenborough who was a organic history broadcaster. This fantastic pitcher plant is located only in the mountain range of Palawan in Philippines.

Nepenthes attenboroughii , the largest pitcher plant of Philippines

Apparently, due to its close resemblance with Nepenthes Rajah, it seems a close relative of this pitcher plant of Borneo. Nepenthes attenboroughii was found just few years ago in 2007 by Alastair S. Robinson, Stewart R. McPherson and Volker B. Heinrich for the duration of a two month research expedition to catalogue the diverse species of pitcher plant found across the Philippine Archipelago.

This species was named in the honor of Sir David Attenborough.

Nepenthes attenboroughii, the biggest pitcher plant of Philippines is a terrestrial upright or scrambling shrub. The stem, which could be up to 3.5 cm thick, is circular in cross section and attains a height of up to 1.5 m. The leaves are coriaceous and sessile or sub-petiolate. The leaves of rosettes are up to 30 cm long and 10 cm wide, whereas these of the scrambling stem are up to 40 cm extended and 15 cm wide. The leaves are oblong to elliptic. As it is described earlier , the pitchers of the Nepenthes attenborroughii are quite huge which produce tube-like leaf structures into which insects and other small animals tumble and turn out to be trapped. Even the botanists are of the view that the pitchers are so big that they can catch rats as effectively as insects in their leafy trap.