Nepenthes alata (; from Latin alatus "winged") is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to the Philippines. Like all pitcher plants, it is carnivorous and uses its nectar to attract insects that drown in the pitcher and are digested by the plant. It is highly polymorphic, and its taxonomy continues to be subject to revisions.

Description

N. alata can vary strongly in colouration and morphology. The floral formula is ✶ K4 A4+4+1* G0 for staminate (the apical stamen /*/ may not be present) and ✶ K4 A0 (4) for pistillate flowers.

Taxonomy Nepenthes alata has long been treated as a highly polymorphic species spanning all the major islands of the Philippine archipelago (with the possible exception of Palawan).McPherson, S.R. & V.B. Amoroso 2011. Field Guide to the Pitcher Plants of the Philippines. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. Under this broad circumscription, N. alata was understood to have an altitudinal range of above sea level and was recorded from, among others, the islands of Bohol, Camiguin, Cebu, Culion, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Panay, Samar,Suarez, W. 2011. . Carnivorous Plants in the tropics, January 12, 2011.Robinson, A. 2012. Nepenthes merrilliana on Samar . Carnivorous Plants in the tropics, June 29, 2012. and Sibuyan. Nepenthes alata in this broad sense (sensu lato) is one of the easiest and most popular Nepenthes in cultivation.Catalano, M. 2009. Nepenthes. In: Growing Carnivores — an Italian perspective. Prague. pp. 50–57.

In 2013, N. alata was redelimited by Martin Cheek and Matthew Jebb to encompass only those populations from northern and central Luzon with conspicuously hairy pitchers (a taxon known in horticultural circles as the "hairy N. alata"). Cheek and Jebb's N. alata sensu stricto has an altitudinal distribution of and above. Under this interpretation, the more southerly plants previously referred to this species actually represent the newly resurrected N. graciliflora (the "typical N. alata" of horticulture; found on Bohol, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Panay, Samar, and Sibuyan) as well as the newly described N. negros (Biliran and Negros) and N. ramos (Mindanao). Nepenthes viridis from Dinagat and Samar is another close relative, Micheler, M., T. Gronemeyer, A. Wistuba, D. Marwinski, W. Suarez & V. Amoroso 2013. Nepenthes viridis, eine neue Nepenthes-Art von der Insel Dinagat, Philippinen. Das Taublatt 76: 4–21. as are N. ceciliae (Mindanao), N. copelandii (Mindanao), N. extincta (Mindanao), N. hamiguitanensis (Mindanao), N. kitanglad (Mindanao), N. kurata (Mindanao), N. leyte (Leyte), N. mindanaoensis (Dinagat and Mindanao), N. saranganiensis (Mindanao), and N. ultra (Luzon).Mey, F.S. 2013. The Nepenthes alata group: resurrection of N. graciliflora; N. ramos and N. negros described as new species. Strange Fruits: A Garden's Chronicle, August 27, 2013. Together these species form the so-called "N. alata group", being united by a number of morphological characters including winged petioles, lids with basal ridges on the lower surface (often elaborated into appendages), and upper pitchers that are usually broadest near the base.

Nepenthes alata is closely related to several other species, including N. copelandii, N. mindanaoensis, and N. saranganiensis. Nepenthes eustachya from Sumatra was once considered to fall within the variability of N. alata, but this was based on a misinterpretation of type specimens; these two species do not seem closely related to each other.

+ Morphological differences between N. alata and N. eustachya (Jebb & Cheek, 1997) Morphological character N. alata N. eustachya Leaf blade lanceolate-ovate lanceolate Leaf apex acute or attenuate rounded to sub-peltate Petiole broadly winged scarcely or not winged Spur simple, acutely pointed simple or bifurcate Indumentum reddish or whitish hairs absent throughout Structure of pitcher base texture similar to rest of pitcher, abruptly attenuate to tendril angular, woody, gradually attenuate to tendril

Infraspecific taxa

N. alata f. variegata Hort. ex P.Mann (1996) nom.nud. N. alata var. biflora Macfarl. (1908)Macfarlane, J.M. 1908. Nepenthaceae. In: A. Engler. Das Pflanzenreich IV, III, Heft 36: 1–91. [=N. negros] N. alata var. ecristata Macfarl. (1908) [=N. kurata]

Natural hybrids

N. alata × N. burkeiMcPherson, S.R. 2009. Pitcher Plants of the Old World. 2 volumes. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. N. alata × N. merrilliana [=N. × merrilliata] ? (N. alata × N. merrilliana) × N. mirabilis [=N. × tsangoya] N. alata × N. mindanaoensis N. alata × N. mirabilis [=N. × mirabilata]Kurata, S. & M. Toyoshima 1972. Philippine species of Nepenthes. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 26(1): 155–158. Abstract ? N. alata × N. petiolata N. alata × N. pulchra N. alata × N. truncata [=N. × truncalata] N. alata × N. ventricosa [=N. × ventrata]

References

Further reading

Blanco, F.M. 1845. Nepenthes. In: Flora de Filipinas, segun el sistema sexual de Linneo. Segunda impresion, corregida y aumentada por el mismo autor. D. Miguel Sanchez, Manila. pp. 555–557.

Cantley, R. 2000. Nepenthes of the Philippines. [video] The 3rd Conference of the International Carnivorous Plant Society, San Francisco, USA.

Cheers, G. 1992. Nepenthes alata. In: Letts Guide to Carnivorous Plants of the World. Letts of London House, London. p. 92. Clarke, C.M. 2006. Introduction. In: Danser, B.H. The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. pp. 1–15. Co, L. & W. Suarez 2012. Nepenthaceae. Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines.

Gorb, E.V. & S.N. Gorb 2009. Chapter 8: Functional Surfaces in the Pitcher of the Carnivorous Plant Nepenthes alata: A Cryo-Sem Approach. In: S.N. Gorb (ed.) Functional Surfaces in Biology: Adhesion Related Phenomena. Volume 2. Springer. pp. 205–238.

Lecoufle, M. 1990. Nepenthes alata. In: Carnivorous Plants: Care and Cultivation. Blandford, London. pp. 118–121.

Mansur, M. 2001. Koleksi Nepenthes di Herbarium Bogoriense: prospeknya sebagai tanaman hias. In: Prosiding Seminar Hari Cinta Puspa dan Satwa Nasional. Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, Bogor. pp. 244–253.

Meimberg, H. 2002. Molekular-systematische Untersuchungen an den Familien Nepenthaceae und Ancistrocladaceae sowie verwandter Taxa aus der Unterklasse Caryophyllidae s. l.. Ph.D. thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich.

Merrill, E.D. 1905. Nepenthaceæ. In: A review of the identifications of the species described in Blanco's Flora de Filipinas. Bureau of Public Printing, Manila. p. 72. Merrill, E.D. 1918. Nepenthaceae. In: Species Blancoanae: a critical revision of the Philippine species of plants described by Blanco and by Llanos. Bureau of Printing, Manila. p. 160. Mey, F.S. 2013. Neotypification of Nepenthes blancoi and description of N. abalata a new species from the Philippines. Strange Fruits: A Garden's Chronicle, February 11, 2013. Mey, F.S. 2013. Nepenthes alzapan and an army of new species from the Philippines. Strange Fruits: A Garden's Chronicle, July 15, 2013.

Slack, A. 1979. Nepenthes alata. In: Carnivorous Plants. Ebury Press, London. pp. 85–86.

Syamsuardi & R. Tamin 1994. Kajian kekerabatan jenis-jenis Nepenthes di Sumatera Barat. Project report, Andalas University, Padang. Abstract

External links

Photographs of N. alata at the Carnivorous Plant Photofinder