Cephalotus in the wild

[Cindy]

There are four different sites. Hope the following photos will give growers ideas on how to grow this species better. Cheers!

Site 1 - plants are exposed to full sun the entire day

Variation in colour of pitchers

Site 2 - can you spot the Cephs in the following pic?

The plants tend to have more leaves than pitchers. The pitchers are green, with red teeth and lids.

Site 3 - site with mostly green pitchers

Most colourful form found at Site 3.

Site 4 - site with most interesting forms

 

[SirKristoff]

very nice photos cindy!!! makes me want to see them even more.
Cephalotus are by far my favorite CP after neps.

 

[Capensis]

Holy moly! They're so big and nice. x_x I LOVE the last photo!

 

[obregon562]

beautiful! i agree with SK! wow!

 

[Jefforever]

Very nice photos. It's always great to see cps in situ!

 

[SashaM24]

Oh wow, if only mine would look that large and vibrant. They are starting to take off, but nothing like that!

 

[Ant]

Awesome pictures! Shows prefectly how important biodeversity is.

 

[Nepfreak]

That last one is awesome, the peristome looks like mirabilis echinostoma or something.

 

[Av8tor1]

really outstanding Cindy, thx for sharing

Butch

 

[Cindy]

I am glad you all enjoyed the photos. Please feel free to study the growing conditions and post questions here. I hope the thread can fuel more discussion on this species.

 

[vraev]

Truly amazing. Having these pictures to see is just sooo useful to understand the ecology of the plants. THanks Cindy. DId u have an opportunity to scoop some of the media beside the plants and try to see what it was made of? It looks like a clay/sand media.

 

[Fryster]

Great photos!

I like the green pitchers with the red teeth. Best color arrangements I think.

 

[Cindy]

Varun,

I was told that the media is slightly different for all the four sites.

Site 1 = soggy fine peat, fine sand
Site 2 = moist coarse peat, coarse sand
Site 3 = barely moist fine peat, fine sand
Site 4 = no peat, moist, just roots of surrounding plants and some spongey material which was reckoned to be dead moss

Apparently, media seems to play a part in colouring up the Cephs other than light intensity. Particularly for Site 4. However, arguing with my guide who is into this species for 20 years is useless. He thinks it is a clone that colours up easily. (Apologies, Shifu...I still think I am right about the "special" ingredient in the media. LOL)