Nepenthes merrilliana (; after Elmer Drew Merrill) is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to the Philippines. It produces some of the largest pitchers in the genus, rivalling those of N. rajah.McPherson, S.R. 2009. Pitcher Plants of the Old World. 2 volumes. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole.
The species is native to northern and central Mindanao as well as neighbouring Dinagat and Samar.Robinson, A. 2012. Nepenthes merrilliana on Samar . Carnivorous Plants in the tropics, June 29, 2012. Its presence in southern Mindanao is uncertain. It inhabits coastal forest areas on steep slopes at elevations of 0–1,100 m above sea level.McPherson, S.R. & V.B. Amoroso 2011. Field Guide to the Pitcher Plants of the Philippines. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole.
Nepenthes surigaoensis is closely related to N. merrilliana and was for a long time considered a heterotypic synonym of this species.Danser, B.H. 1928. The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Série III, 9(3–4): 249–438. Nepenthes samar is another closely allied species.Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Nepenthes samar (Nepenthaceae), a new species from Samar, Philippines. Blumea 58(1): 82–84.
Natural hybrids N. alata × N. merrilliana [=N. × merrilliata]Mann, P. 1998. A trip to the Philippines. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 27(1): 6–11. ? (N. alata × N. merrilliana) × N. mirabilis [=N. × tsangoya] N. bellii × N. merrilliana N. merrilliana × N. mindanaoensis N. merrilliana × N. mirabilis
References
Further reading
Bauer, U., C.J. Clemente, T. Renner & W. Federle 2012. Form follows function: morphological diversification and alternative trapping strategies in carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25(1): 90–102. Beveridge, N.G.P., C. Rauch, P.J.A. Keßler, R.R. van Vugt & P.C. van Welzen 2013. A new way to identify living species of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae): more data needed! Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 42(4): 122–128. Cantley, R. 2000. Nepenthes of the Philippines. [video] The 3rd Conference of the International Carnivorous Plant Society, San Francisco, USA. Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Nepenthes ramos (Nepenthaceae), a new species from Mindanao, Philippines. Willdenowia 43(1): 107–111. Co, L. & W. Suarez 2012. Nepenthaceae. Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines. Gronemeyer, T. 2008. Nepenthes auf den Philippinen – Ein Reisebericht. Das Taublatt 60(1): 15–27. Gronemeyer, T. & V. Heinrich 2008. Wiederentdeckung von Nepenthes surigaoensis am Naturstandort auf den Philippinen. Das Taublatt 60(1): 28–33. Kurata, S. & M. Toyoshima 1972. Philippine species of Nepenthes. The Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 26(1): 155–158. Abstract Macfarlane, J.M. 1927. The Philippine species of Nepenthes. The Philippine Journal of Science 33(2): 127–140. Mansur, M. 2001. In: Prosiding Seminar Hari Cinta Puspa dan Satwa Nasional. Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, Bogor. pp. 244–253. McPherson, S. & T. Gronemeyer 2008. Die Nepenthesarten der Philippinen Eine Fotodokumentation. Das Taublatt 60(1): 34–78. Meimberg, H., A. Wistuba, P. Dittrich & G. Heubl 2001. Molecular phylogeny of Nepenthaceae based on cladistic analysis of plastid trnK intron sequence data. Plant Biology 3(2): 164–175. Meimberg, H. 2002. Ph.D. thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich. Meimberg, H. & G. Heubl 2006. Introduction of a nuclear marker for phylogenetic analysis of Nepenthaceae. Plant Biology 8(6): 831–840. Oikawa, T. 1992. Nepenthes merrilliana Macf.. In: . [The Grief Vanishing.] Parco Co., Japan. pp. 58–59.