Nepenthes lamii
Description
Shrub or climber to 2-3 m tall.
Leaves thinly coriaceous, sessile, those of climbing stems lanceolate, 5-14 by 1.2-2.8 cm, apex acute, base decurrent as converging wings or ridges for c. 2 cm below the node.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present (Irian Jaya present), Mts Doorman and Erica present
New Guinea: Irian Jaya (Mts Doorman and Erica).
Taxonomy
2. The illustrations of N. vieillardii in both and are of N. lamii.
3. The species is named after Professor Herman Lam, who made the first collections of this plant during the Van Overeem Expedition to Mt Doorman in 1920.
1 Once treated as an outlying population of the New Caledonian N. vieillardii from which it can be distinguished by its almost glabrous nature (vs. sparse to dense white hairs c. 1 mm long in N. vieillardii). Nepenthes lamii also has somewhat more widely spaced peristome ribs (0.3-0.4 mm apart vs. 0.2-0.3 mm in N. vieillardii) and denser nectar glands on the underside of the lid: 1500-2000 glands/cm2 (vs. 75-100 glands/cm2 in N. vieillardii). Nepenthes lamii is a variable species: at high altitudes in grassland it becomes a dwarfed and stunted shrublet (e.g. Lam 1637 & 1654) whilst specimens from moss forest at lower altitude are slender climbers. Some of the collections from the Hellwig Mts (Pulle 803, Von Römer 1037) are very small, delicate plants. In some collections, notably the type specimen, the tendrils are densely glandular.