Nepenthes villosa: Tambuyukon vs. Kinabalu

[Heli]

I thought I should share some pics of some of my villosas, the plants photographed are all seed grown and germinated in 2012, approximately around the same time (I did not germinate them myself).
My current conditions are:
days:74F-77F
nights:48F-51F
humidity 60-99%
lighting: 6x t5HO, 75watt LED ufo

First one is my Nepenthes villosa from Mount Tambuyukon, the seed was collected from a 1850m site which is fairly low for a villosa, as you can see it shows a lot of red coloration on the leaves and traps which is quite odd, considering the fact that N. villosa kinabalu seedlings of the same size rarely if ever show coloration on the leaves. This might be from some type of genetic influence from N. edwardsiana, the leaves on N. ed get reddish and even purple in high light.
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The next two pots are of Nepenthes villosa from Mount Kinabalu, the first pot is seedlings from a 3200 meter site and the second is of unknown altitude
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All together now...
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It's quite evident that Nepenthes villosa from Mount Tambuyukon varies quite a bit from the Kinabalu form, it seems to be more vigorous perhaps due to the lower altitude that it is found at.

 

[Dexenthes]

Nice observations Heli. I wonder if the Kinabalu seedlings aren't showing any color just due to size also. Probably not though. It would seem strange to me that the original elevation of the seed would be able to influence its growth pattern as opposed to it being mostly dependent on your growing conditions.

 

[NatchGreyes]

Have you noticed any difference in growth patterns or other traits? I've heard a lot of different things about N. villosa and I just wondered if there might be some truth to all of it, i.e. different locations, different traits.

 

[Heli]

Nice observations Heli. I wonder if the Kinabalu seedlings aren't showing any color just due to size also. Probably not though. It would seem strange to me that the original elevation of the seed would be able to influence its growth pattern as opposed to it being mostly dependent on your growing conditions.

The ty villosa was showing much more color already when it was the size of the kinabalu villosas. Also, I have not seen a villosa kinabalu seedling with any red color in the leaves before.

 

[Heli]

Have you noticed any difference in growth patterns or other traits? I've heard a lot of different things about N. villosa and I just wondered if there might be some truth to all of it, i.e. different locations, different traits.

The growth patterns are very similar, but not exactly alike.

 

[Tanukimo]

Interesting observation! I wonder if the differences will be more pronounced with age.

 

[Av8tor1]

I know you been wanting to see an updated pic of mine....
This pitcher is just now opening, when it fully opens I'll endeavor to take a better quality pic.

Oh, fwiw, it was listed as Kinabalu

Av

 

[Av8tor1]

update:

newest pitcher opening

cellphone image taken today

 

[killerplantsguy]

Gorgeous plants and interesting observations, Heli and Av. Paul Zahl's photo of N. villosa in the May, 1964 issue of National Geographic sparked my interest in carnivorous plants. (Yes, I'm really old!)

 

[Sashoke]

Beautiful plants Heli! You too Av8tor!

 

[tje25]

Any updates on these? Have they all turned out to be x kinabaluensis?

 

[Avery]

Sorry to dig this up, but I'm also wondering if anyone thinks they're growing the actual Mount Tambuyukon Nepenthes villosa, or are they all turning out to be N. x kinabaluensis?

 

[Avery]

Here's my small Tambuyukon villosa. It's very vigorous.

 

[raiseitup01]

Any updates on these? Have they all turned out to be x kinabaluensis?

^^^

 

[BigBella]

Having grown plants from both locales from seed and having also micropropagated them over the years, I haven't noticed any significant difference between Nepenthes villosa which couldn't, finally, be attributed to simple seed-grown -- sexual -- variation . . .

 

[Avery]

No elongated pitchers or ease of cultivation due to the lower altitude of the Tambuyukon plants?

 

[BigBella]

No elongated pitchers or ease of cultivation due to the lower altitude of the Tambuyukon plants?

No, nothing that couldn't be attributed to seed grown variation and / or transitory juvenile characteristics. Also, the temperature differences, especially at night, between those two locales -- separated by about 1000 meters -- aren't that disparate.

I don't care where you are in the tropics. Anywhere over 2400 meters and above is damn cold by night . . .