Nepenthes merrilliana

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Nepenthes merrilliana

Description

Terrestrial or epiphytic shrub or low climber to 4 m tall. Leaves thinly coriaceous, sessile, narrowly oblong to oblanceolate, 20-60 by 3.5-7 cm, apex acute or obtuse, base attenuate, clasping the stem by c. 1/2 the circumference and decurrent into two wings 3-7 mm wide extending half to one internode down the stem. Inflorescence minutely puberulent. Fruit unknown. Seed unknown.

Distribution

Agusan present, Asia-Tropical: Philippines (Philippines present), Dinagat Island present, Mindanao present, Surigao present
Philippines: Mindanao, Surigao and Agusan Provinces including Dinagat Island

Ecology

. Reported as being epiphytic by Macfarlane (1911), based on notes added to the specimen at Kew by Merrill and supported by recent field observations. However, there are also reports of N. merrilliana growing terrestrially in thin woodland. It seems restricted to ultramafic areas.

Taxonomy

3. identified a specimen (Riedel s.n., BO) from Gorontalo, Sulawesi as belonging to this species. However, it seems to us that the acute leaf apex, narrowed mouth and long peristome teeth of this specimen does not suggest that they are conspecific. Further material is needed from northern Sulawesi to elucidate the placement of this specimen. 2. Nepenthes merrilliana is one of four endemics confined to the Surigao & Agusan Provinces of NE Mindanao, the others being: N. bellii, N. truncata, and N. petiolata. 1 Nepenthes merrilliana vies with N. rajah of Borneo for the largest pitchers of the genus. From other Mindanaoan species of the genus it can be distinguished by its long, slender oblong or oblanceolate leaves, 20-60 by 5-7 cm, and the large pitchers with a broad, sinuous-edged peristome. Our knowledge of this species is still fragmentary.

Citation

Jebb & Cheek 1997 – In: Blumea: 62
Sh. Kurata & Toyosh. 1972 – In: Gard. Bull. Sing.: 157