Nepenthes eymae

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Nepenthes eymae

Description

Terrestrial climber to c. 5 m (?) tall. Leaves of the climbing stems coriaceous, petiolate, blade oblong-elliptic, 8-13(-20) by 3-4.5(-7) cm, apex acute to obtuse, not peltate, base attenuate, petiole winged, 4.2-8.5 cm long, wings c. 4 mm wide, clasping the stem for 1/2 its circumference, abruptly decurrent as two low ridges to the node below. Fruit and seed unknown.

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: Sulawesi (Sulawesi present)
Sulawesi: apparently widely distributed in the mountains of the eastern arm of the central area.

Ecology

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Taxonomy

1 Closely related to N. maxima which also occurs in Sulawesi, but differing in the narrowly hastate lid (not ovate to elliptic) and in that the upper pitchers are strikingly infundibuliform — bowl-shaped in the upper half, arising abruptly from a narrowly cylindrical basal half. The remarkable pitcher appears to be a specialised trap, its relatively horizontal sides would probably make the capture of much of its prey difficult. The pitcher fluid is extremely viscous in cultivated specimens at Kew, interestingly this feature is also reported in N. inermis, a species with equally infundibulate upper pitchers from Sumatra (see there for a possible functional explanation). 2. Along with two other species (N. hamata and N. glabrata) the nomenclatural history of N. eymae involved almost simultaneous publication of two competing names. Kurata’s publication of N. eymae preceded Turnbull & Middleton’s N. infundibuliformis by just 4 days. Unfortunately the location of the proposed holotype (Kurata 102a), and series of isotypes (103, 104 & 105) was not stated (although the name is nonetheless valid under article 37 of the ICBN), and none of this material appears to have been deposited in a public institution. However, the holotype is illustrated in the original publication. Nor do the types proposed by Turnbull & Middleton appear to have been deposited at Bogor as stated. The name Eyma is feminine, even though the collector was male, and the correct ending is therefore ‘eymae’.

Citation

Jebb & Cheek 1997 – In: Blumea: 39