Confusion about nepenthes...

[fc3srx713b]

when i show people at work pics of my nepenthes, there are a couple of things that they say. so what i wanna ask is what have some of your friends, co-workers, people have called them... i have funny one in mind but ill wait till i heard it all...

 

[seedjar]

I've heard of people mistaking the pitchers for fruit, and I once overheard a guy at the zoo tell his ladyfriend that the pitchers were insect cocoons. I blather on so much about my own plants that most people know what they're looking at before I show them my collection, though.
~Joe

 

[Gemini528]

Quote[/b] ]I once overheard a guy at the zoo tell his ladyfriend that the pitchers were insect cocoons

Whoa! Insect cocoons? That's kinda funny! A little ironic too!

I don't have any interesting stories.

 

[trainspotting]

I've heard many people call the pitchers flowers.

 

[PiranhaPlant]

People get more confused when you say the pitcher is actually the real leaf and the thing that looks like a leaf is really a petiole and my friend once called it a condom plant and made some up some story on how chimps use the neps, I don't know what he was on

 

[fc3srx713b]

Quote[/b] (PiranhaPlant @ Dec. 01 2005,8:27)]my friend once called it a condom plant and made some up some story on how chimps use the neps, I don't know what he was on  

hahaha!
you are the winnah!

i get that one alot here!
would be painful on a hamata!

 

[Gawd_oOo]

Wait they aren't insect cocoons... and here I sit waiting for it to hatch.

 

[TyFone]

Quote[/b] (trainspotting @ Nov. 30 2005,11:16)]I've heard many people call the pitchers flowers.

Well this is the usual thing you hear on GCs here.
Then you try to convince them that they are not flowers.
But noooo they have education on this stuff and knows better.

I have heard condom plants from GC workers here to.

 

[CNCreefer]

Quote[/b] ]my friend once called it a condom plant and made some up some story on how chimps use the neps, I don't know what he was on

My neighbor saw my N. mixta and said it looked like a red lipped [ expletive ] plant

 

[shokuchuu]

While at work and putting out the newly delivered N. x ventrata, a lady started explaining to her friends that hummingbirds sip on the "nectar" in the bowls of the pitcher - I overheard and told her, "not quite, not quite." The look she gave me then was one I'll never forget - a well-balanced mixture of anger and embarassment; a small victory on my part! Ah, the satisfaction...

Cheers

 

[TyFone]

Yes its really funny.
I bought recently a S.psittacina from a local store.
She told me that it should have shaded light with lots of humidity.
I told her that it doesnt need that high humidity.And can be grown in full sunlight
She just like "nooo..really?" like I was stupid.
I said yes I have about 60 more of Cps at home.
Then she shut her mouth and started with the next customer

 

[shokuchuu]

Way to show her TyFone!

 

[fc3srx713b]

man thoes faces you get.

 

[schloaty]

I've been asked if the pitchers (brown & crinkled at the time, so this was excuseable) were old seed-pods.

 

[tonyc]

Tyfone wrote:

Quote[/b] ]I bought recently a S.psittacina from a local store.
She told me that it should have shaded light with lots of humidity.

To be fair, some people who should know better think so too. Here are a couple of pics of my local Botanic Garden's carnivorous plant house taken last August in mid-afternoon:

When I suggested their plants might do better without the shading I was told condescendingly 'I think the expert horticulturalists here know what they're doing'.

 

[Trent]

don't ya just love that attitude!!
We sell Sarrs and Neps at local plant shows, often held at local botanical gardens, and we've heard everything! Michelle finally gave up with one woman. She kept asking Michelle cultural questions, and everytime Michelle answered the woman disputed her. Finally Michelle said, "You're right, yep, uh huh. You're the expert!
The woman continues to pontificate wrong info, finally asking how we happen to have these marvelous flowers(we are talking Nep pitchers)
Michelle, "Well, we've got a greenhouse with about two thousand of them, but you already know everything."
Many of these people never buy anything, they just wander around the show and pretend to be experts. Real customers spend money and LISTEN to cultural advice.
We get the flower question quite a bit, at least a dozen times a day at the typical plant show/sale.
And I can't repeat here the kinds of comments the Nepenthes elicit from some of the "dirty old ladies." Let your imagination run wild, and yes, most of the naughty comparisons come from the women, not the men. The guys suddenly become experts on pitcher plants, explaining how the lids clamp down on trapped insects, and how Nepenthes are either 1.a tropical Jack in the Pulpit, or 2. an orchid.
I could go on. When the day is over, we count our money and Michelle and I exchange stories. We even meet really nice people and often make new friends too.

 

[shokuchuu]

Oxford BG is so recognisable. Other than their flowering Roridula gorgonias, I wasn't too impressed. Oh well eh? I'd also expect them to give that sort of answer considering the "world-famous reputation" the town has.

Cheers

 

[tonyc]

Indeed, it is Oxford BG.
But the annoying thing is how it's all been 'dumbed down' over the past few years. I remember it having a really good CP area (it was a sort of long landscaped bench in the succulent house that got loads of light).
And don't get me started on what happened to the fern house.......
Cheers,
T.

 

[DerbyCityNeps]

I was once told that it looked like a toilet for little animals. Considering he is 6 thats a neat idea. My friend thought it was a cup for monkeys and apes which is pretty ironic since a nep nickname is Monkey Cup.

 

[TyFone]

Well then the 6 year old is smarter then most people as Ampullaria,Lowii and ephippiata (dont know the spelling) are often found with bird excrement in the pitchers.