Nepenthes hispida
Description
Terrestrial climber to c. 5 m tall.
Upper leaf blade, midrib, upper tepal surface and fruit, glabrous.
Leaves coriaceous, sessile, blade oblanceolate to oblong, sometimes narrowly so;
Fruit valves 35-47 by 3-4 mm.
Seeds not recorded.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present (Brunei present), NE Sarawak present
Borneo: NE Sarawak and Brunei.
Taxonomy
2. This name was long overlooked, partly because of difficulties with its typification. Beck cites the type as “Am Lawas River bei 2000 bis 3000 Fuss (Low)!” At Kew there is a collection with a printed label of F.W. Burbidge attached; however, there is also a larger, hand-written label: “N. species, Lawas River, 2000 to 3000 feet no flowering or seeding specimens seen.” At Vienna (W) there is a duplicate of this sheet with details presumably transcribed from the Kew label. Beck probably saw the Kew material as well, and probably interpreted the handwriting as Low’s. The specimens accord exactly to Beck’s description in both dimensions and appearance. Macfarlane in Das Pflanzenreich 4, 3 (1908) 49 placed N. hispida as a synonym of N. hirsuta, under the var. typica which he described there. Under this variety he cites 3 collections ‘(Low!, Beccari!, Burbidge!)’. Since the former specimen is most likely the type of N. hirsuta, the varietal name is superfluous and illegitimate. The last named specimen, however, is in all likelihood the specimen we interpret here as Beck’s ‘Low’ specimen. was sceptical of Macfarlane’s treatment of N. hispida, but did not see the type, and placed it as a questionable synonym of N. hirsuta.
1 This species is closely related to N. hirsuta, but distinct in the amplexicaul-decurrent leaf base, and also in the pilose character of the indumentum, with dense bristle-like hairs 1.5-4 mm long (1-2 mm long in N. hirsuta) on purplish grey stems (brown in N. hirsuta). The male flowers have a staminal column only 1.5-2 mm long at anthesis (3.5-6 mm long in N. hirsuta). Nepenthes hispida appears to be common in the region surrounding the Lambir Hills of northern Sarawak, with one collection being known from nearby Brunei and the type from the Lawas River. It is also related to N. macrovulgaris and N. philippinensis which can be distinguished by being glabrous and lacking peristome teeth (see key to the N. hirsuta group under N. philippinensis).