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N. lowii in bloom!

  • #41
I am a pragmatic scholar on these types of things. I studied classical latin for 6 years and find that some of the pedantic stuff being peddled as correct pronunciation is actually Baroque/Rococo latin (as my old Latin teacher used to call it) from the middle ages rather than Roman times. Anyway, another debate. Anyway, if 95% of enthusiasts are pronouncing it a certain way, which is different from what the pronunciation "purists" would have it, then practice wins over theory. It's like the French trying to keep their language free of anglicisms, there's no point in it being banned if just about everyone is using it!

Hamish
 
  • #42
Rob,

Since you are reading this thread, I must ask: Have you noticed that N. lowii flowers in the wild have a somewhat different scent than most Nepenthes flowers? I really find it interesting that, at least in my experience, under cultivation, this is the case....
 
  • #43
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Hear! Hear! Hamish.

Jeff, I've seen lowii in the wild a few times, in Brunei Sarawak and Sabah and can't say I've noticed an unusual smell but I usually try to go when there is seed around and not flowers, so that may be the reason.  I do know that some Nepenthes flowers smell quite different to others, presumably to attract certin types of pollinating insects.  One that springs to mind is N. bicalcarata which smells really quite pungent to my mind.  The seeds too have a strong smell to them.
 
  • #44
Rob,
First, I want to let you know that we have a beautiful, dark purple form of N. cantleyi. It gets quite a bit of attention. Strange that you were not informed about the natural hybrid being named after you.
We pronounce N. rafflesiana the same as you, pronouncing the gentleman's name (Sir Raffles) with the 'iana' at the end. You don't want to know what we've heard for N. jacquelineae! Just to clear that one up for anyone who may be questioning - we pronounce it with her name first Jacqueline-ee-Eye. The eae ending sounds like the ii. Wasn't that fantastic species named after Charles Clarke's wife?
Nepenthes flowers certainly have a scent. We have a friend who says it reminds him of Fritos corn chips and something else. Upon walking into another Nepenthes grower's greenhouse, I can sometimes tell if there is a male or female in flower, noticing the genders have different scents. N. bical seeds have a scent? That's wild!
 
  • #45
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Wow 6 years thats pretty fast to reach that stage of development,so its not as slow as some people make out then?

I forgot to answer this earlier -- sorry!  I would say that this species grows more slowly when small, or if stressed.  However, while I would certainly not call it quick, I would say that it grows at a decent rate under good conditions as it matures.  My personal opinion is that many people have trouble with it because they keep it too warm, especially at night.
 
  • #46
Trent,

Yes you're right - N. jacquelineae was named after Charles wife (who's better known as Jackie). As for pronunciation, if you pronounce it like the name, then you'd say 'jacqueline - ay' - there's no extra syllable (just like people always add an extra syllable in burbidgeae - which should be 'burbidge - ay', but I've heard it called 'burbidge - ii -ay' a number of times. However, if you were to pronounce it the Latin way, you'd say 'jakwelinay' (or more correctly yakwelinay as the Latin 'j' is actually 'i'). Confusing enough?

Do you have a pic of that dark purple form of N. ampullaria var. cantleyi?
 
  • #47
N. cantleyi is the natural hybrid of bicalcarata x gracilis - and we'll try to get a pic of our dark purple form posted here soon.
 
  • #48
Aaaah, hence the purple colour. I was getting confused with Cantley's Red - my apologies. Serves me right for posting at 7am before having my coffee!
 
  • #49
Oh Hamish!  How sad!  On the forums at 7am even before coffee.  Hope you remembered to put on your anorak and open toed sandals first
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Would like to see that purple N. x cantleyi please Trent. Would meke me feel better about myself!  Once upon a time I did find one plant like that and took cuttings, exporting them as plants aroung 1987, some to Australia, some to USA.  I like to think that the plant you have may have originated from that parent.  I have a photo of it somewhere.

My visitor corrected me on my pronounciation of jacquelineae to "yakwelinay".  Personally, I think if a plant is named after a person then that person's name should be pronounced as they would like to hear it.  I'm not a purist about these things which is probably why I gave latin up at school after a year. I hearken back to Hamish's earlier comment:

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]there's no point in it being banned if just about everyone is using it!

Anyway, I've got my coffee now and will get on to more urgent things - like answering your e-mail Hamish!
 
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