Is this a ventrata or ventricosa?

[curtisconners]

Hey all.

I have a young nepenthes from Lowe's that was marked ventricosa and it does have one true pitcher that looks like a ventricosa, but it has another pitcher that looks more ventrata like.

Here's the ventricosa-like pitcher.







And here's the ventrata-like pitcher.



Which do you guys think it is? has anyone even seen something like this?

Thanks

 

[allysnapper]

It can he tricky if you only use pitchers to identify nepenthes.But yours look just like my ventrata.

 

[dr_donut]

It looks like a ventrata, but I could be wrong.

 

[curtisconners]

It can he tricky if you only use pitchers to identify nepenthes.But yours look just like my ventrata.

I always thought that the pitchers of a nepenthes would be the best way to identify one. Here's a photo of the whole plant.

 

[Benurmanii]

It's impossible to tell at this point.

 

[curtisconners]

It's impossible to tell at this point.

Then I guess I'll just have to grow it and see.

 

[Sashoke]

Im not going to speak in certainties, because like others before me have said its very hard to tell at this age, but that is likely ventrata. I've grown nine N. ventricosas of differeing variety, the leaves on a ventricosa have more a gentle rounding (compared to your plant which has "sharp" leaves), and the coloring on my ventricosas of that size was always very linear. By that I mean the pitchers were split in half by the red/yellow portion. Example of one of my ventricosas when it was young:

Note the pitcher coloring. Also note the "bell" bottom isnt overly developed like your pitcher is. All of my ventricosas were very cylindrical when young.

Now here is a young ventrata:

Looks much more like your plant there.

But like I said, I could be wrong. Thats my 2 cents on the matter at least.

 

[Dexenthes]

I'd like to echo Sashoke's sentiment that N. ventricosa and its close relatives have a very visibly distinct coloration differentiation between the digestive zone and the slippery zone of the pitcher. This trait is prominent not only in N. ventricosa but the same can be said for the young seedlings of N. barcelonae, which is a close relative to N. ventricosa, as well as even my N. burkei x hamata which is displaying the trait prominently.

That being said, your plant appears to have a considerable distinction of coloration in that regard. I am actually going to take the unpopular stance on this issue and suggest that your plant could very well be a variety of N. ventricosa. However as others have stated it is at a very hazy age currently and only some maturation in the pitchers will truly demonstrate whether it is pure N. ventricosa or not.

 

[curtisconners]

Also note the "bell" bottom isn't overly developed like your pitcher is. All of my ventricosas were very cylindrical when young.

like this?



This is a very young plant and those two pitchers in the first post are it's only true pitchers at the moment, the rest are protopitchers. Including this one.

 

[hcarlton]

Fair chance your plant is ventricosa, but it and x ventrata look nearly identical at this stage and semi-mature rosette pitchers are needed to determine true identity. Leaf shape is definitely different (young ages ventricosa does have more round-tipped leaves), but when really young that can be hard to distinguish.

 

[curtisconners]

Does lighting make a difference in leaf shape? Mine's under a pretty bright led light and the leaves turn very red after a day in direct sunlight.

 

[Sashoke]

Does lighting make a difference in leaf shape? Mine's under a pretty bright led light and the leaves turn very red after a day in direct sunlight.

Ive never actually seen a ventricosa get red leaves from tons of light like other Nepenthes have, they always seem to just stay, well, green. So that might be a good indicator right there that its ventrata.

 

[curtisconners]

Perhaps, but my ventrata has never turned red, but it was in a more shady spot last summer and it didn't get a whole lot of light this winter.

 

[Sashoke]

Dunno mate, only time will tell.

Once it gets a bit older it will be very easy to identify.

 

[curtisconners]

Hey, remember when I said that my ventrata doesn't turn red.





I guess the signs do point to ventrata. Too bad really, I was hoping for a ventricosa.

 

[Sashoke]

Its still possible its a ventricosa, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[curtisconners]

I suppose so. How long until I can be certain?

 

[Sashoke]

I suppose so. How long until I can be certain?

When pitchers are 2-4 inches long it will be very obvious what plant it is.

 

[curtisconners]

Got it, thanks.