Highland pitcher plant from Borneo with funnel-shaped upper pitchers that collect treeshrew droppings

Nepenthes lowii is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, named after Hugh Low who discovered it on Mount Kinabalu. The species is considered one of the most distinctive in the entire genus and is a classic highland species.

The plant is a climber, and the stem can reach over 10 meters in length. It forms two completely different types of pitchers. The lower pitchers are quite small, at most about 10 centimeters, usually red-green with a striped peristome and bristly hairs on the underside of the lid.

The upper pitchers are significantly larger, up to 28 centimeters high and 10 centimeters wide. They have a swollen lower part, a sharply constricted waist, and then a wide, open mouth with a lid that is held away from the pitcher. The color is usually green with a blood-red interior, and the pitchers are very rigid, almost woody. They retain their shape better than any other species even after they have dried.

What is truly unusual is how the species obtains its nutrients. N. lowii catches very few insects compared to other pitcher plants. Instead, the upper pitchers secrete a sweet, white substance on the lid. This attracts mountain treeshrews, which eat it while sitting on the pitcher, and their droppings fall into the pitcher. A 2009 study showed that mature plants obtained between 57 and 100 percent of the nitrogen in their leaves from treeshrew droppings.

Botanical description

The species grows at an altitude of 1,650 to 2,600 meters in nutrient-poor soil in the upper montane zone, both on the ground and epiphytically. The typical environment is moss forest or low, stunted vegetation along mountain ridges, often in a thick layer of sphagnum moss over limestone, granite, sandstone, or ultramafic bedrock.

Care

N. lowii grows very slowly until it reaches a diameter of about 25 centimeters, after which its growth accelerates. It often produces a few intermediate pitchers before the true upper pitchers appear. Even large plants form relatively few roots compared to most other pitcher plants. Under the right highland conditions, it is a stable and reliable plant.

Use a substrate of sphagnum, perlite, and preferably orchid bark in a 2:1:1 ratio. Keep it moist but not wet, and preferably water with distilled or rainwater. Provide bright, filtered light.

Like its habitat, the species prefers varying temperatures: about 19 to 27 degrees during the day and 9 to 17 degrees at night, but never below 12 degrees. The humidity should be around 70 percent during the day and preferably over 90 percent at night, which makes terrariums or greenhouses the best location.

Fertilize in the pitchers with diluted liquid orchid fertilizer approximately every two weeks, never in the substrate.