C. F. B. [Ball, C. F.] (1908). Notes from Glasnevin Botanic Gardens. A

Blunt, W. (1950). The Art of Botanical Illustration 246. Collins, London. Burbidge, F. W. (1880). The Gardens o f the Sun: or a naturalist’s journal on the

mountains and in the forests and swamps of Borneo . . .John Murray, London. (facsimile 1989, Oxford University Press, Singapore).

Desmond, R. G. C. (1977). Dictionary o f British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists . . . Taylor & Francis, London.

Hemsley, W. B. (1905). Nepenthes rajah. Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 131: t. 8017. Kurata, Shigeo. (1976). Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu. Sabah National Parks

Publication No. 2. Sabah National Parks Trustees, Kota Kinabalu. Low, H. (1848). Sarawak: its inhabitants andproductions: being notes during a

residence in that country . . . Richard Bentley, London. (facsimile 1988, Oxford University Press, Singapore).

wonderful pitcher plant (Nepenthes rajah). The Garden 72: 225.

Veitch, H. J. (1897). Nepenthes. J . Roy. Hort. SOC. 21: 226-262. Veitch, J. H. (1906). Hortus Veitchii. A history of. . . the nurseries of Messrs

James Veitch and sons . . .James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, London.

MANUSCRIPTS

Kew Mss. F. W. Moore to W. B. Hemsley, 29 March 1905.

Moore Mss. H. Veitch to F. W. Moore, 7 September 1897. H. Veitch to F. W. Moore, 10 September 1897. W. Watson to F. W. Moore, 8 September 1897.

School of Botany, Trinity College, Duhlin, Mss. H. Low to F. W. Burbidge, 31 October 1877 (courtesy of Dr P. S. Wyse Jackson).

PLANTS IN PERIL, 15 NEPENTHES RAJAH

Rosemary Simpson

‘They do not just take a pitcher, a flower or a cutting: they take everything, including the roots, so that the plant is never seen again’ (Briggs, 1985). ‘The Nepenthes represent some of the most singularly beautiful forms in the whole vegetable kingdom, and a collection of them is a sight full ofinterest to the horticulturist’ (Dean, 1879).

The genus Nepenthes L. includes over 70 species together with numerous hybrids, both natural and artificial. In general, members of Nepenthes are dioecious, terrestrial, and climbing or sometimes shrub-like plants, although they have also been reported as epiphy-

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tic. They occur in tropical forests, scrub and open areas. The centre of distribution is in South-East Asia where at least 60 species occur (Philipps & Lamb, 1988). However the range extends westwards to Madagascar, eastwards to New Caledonia, northwards to the Khasi Hills in India, and southwards to the Cape York Peninsula in Australia (Macfarlane, 1908; Danser, 1928; Kurata, 1976; Phillips & Lamb, 1988). Several Nepenthes species are endemic and highly restricted in their distribution. One such example is Nepenthes rajah Hooker fil.

The ‘Giant Malaysian Pitcher Plant’, N. rajah (Anon., 1981), is considered to be the most splendid member of the genus. I t was first described by J. D. Hooker in the Transactions o f the Linnean Society in 1859. He regarded the species as ‘one of the striking vegetable productions hitherto discovered’ and named the plant in honour of Sir James Brook, the first Rajah of Sarawak.

Nepenthes rajah is a non-climbing highland species, colonizing montane rainforest between 1,650 and 2,650 metres (Smythies, 1965; Kurata, 1976). Hooker (1859) gave its distribution as north- east Borneo on Mt. Kinabalu at 1,660 metres. Today it is confined to four known localities within the Kinabalu Park district (Macfarlane, 1908; Danser, 1928; Kurata, 1976). It is restricted to this region and is considered to be rare (Kiew et al., 1985). According to Kurata (1976), N . rajah inhabits mossy forest and damp places in the vicinity of waterfalls. However, it is seldom found in typical forest and it grows rather in the open amongst Leptospermum and Dacrydium scrub on serpentine soils through which water percolates. Burbidge ( 1880), writing on his travels and explorations of Malaysia described it growing on Mt. Kinabalu ‘in the most luxuriant health and beauty’ in ‘open places among rocks and sedges’ on what he described as ‘a stiff yellow loam surfaced with sandstone-grit’. He remarked that ‘the large plants of N. rajah were surrounded with a good deal of rich humus and leaf debris’.

Ntpenthes rajah is a terrestrial herb with stems up to 1.5 m in length, although stems up to 2.5 m have been recorded (Hooker, 1859; Macfarlane, 1908; Danser, 1928; Kurata, 1976). The stems are stout and cylindric with lanceolate to oblong leaves up to 1 m long and 19 cm wide. This species is coveted by collectors for its enormous pitchers borne on stout tendrils at the ends of leaves. The tendrils, which are extensions of the leaf mid-rib, may reach up to 54 cm long in the wild (Hemsley, 1905). In the majority ofNepenthes species, the

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tendrils are coiled and support the plant as it climbs through the surrounding vegetation, however, the tendrils of N. rajah remain straight and uncoiled (Macfarlane, 1908). Veitch (1897) noted that ‘the crimson to purplish pitchers produced at the ends of the tendrils rest in a circle on the ground’. The pitchers can grow up to 35 cm in length and 18 cm wide (Kurata, 1976). Two wings, measuring 6- 15 mm wide, run along the front of the pitchers, and the oblique mouth bears a ‘broad plaited slippery collar with an incurved comb-like margin’ (Hemsley, 1905). The contents of the pitcher are sheltered by a rather large oval lid, dome-like in appearance. According to Kurata ( 1976), the outside ofthe lid is scarlet to purple while the inside is yellow-green.

This remarkable species was first discovered on Mt. Kinabalu in 1851 by Sir Hugh Low. However, he failed to introduce it into cultivation, returning to England with herbarium material only. Spencer St. John (1863), amazed at the great size of the pitchers, wrote in his account of the ascent of Mt. Kinabalu ‘While the men were cooking their rice, we sat before the tent enjoying our chocolate and observing one of our followers carrying water in a splendid specimen of the Nepenthes rajah, desired him to bring it to us, and found that it held exactly four pint bottles. It was 19 inches in circumference. . . and Mr Low, while wandering in search of flowers, came upon one in which was a drowned rat’. Low’s attempt to collect N . rajah from Mt. Kinabalu was followed by that of Thomas Lobb in 1856. Lobb was prevented from climbing the mountain by the local people and, having failed to obtain any material of N . rajah, he returned to England disappointed. There was a further unsuccessful attempt to collect living material in 1858, by Spencer St. John and Sir Hugh Low (Veitch, 1897).

I t was not until 1877 that F. W. Burbidge managed to collect seeds and living plants of N . rajah. Unfortunately, few of the seeds survived (Veitch, 1897; Hemsley, 1905). Veitch (1897) attributed this failure to the inability to reproduce in cultivation, the conditions to which N . rajah was accustomed in the wild. F. W. Moore at the Botanic Garden in Glasnevin, Dublin, received two plants ofN. rajah from Messrs James Veitch & Sons and one from F. W. Burbidge. He also experienced difficulties in maintaining the plants in cultivation. Initially he kept them under hot humid conditions but then decided to place them in a cool orchid house which proved to be more successful. The cool humid conditions provided by the orchid house,

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seemed ideal for growth, being similar to the climatic conditions on which N . rajah thrives in its natural habitat on Mt. Kinabalu. The first plant of N . rajah, grown successfully from seed collected by Burbidge in 1877, was displayed to the public by Messrs Veitch at the Royal Horticultural Society in 1881 (Masters, 1881).

Kiew et al. (1985) reported that large quantities of plants were stripped from protected areas within the Sabah Parks for the horticultural trade, and this had increased pressure on the remain- ing populations. Since 1965, N. rujuh has been protected by the Sabah Parks laws. However, as these laws only apply to Sabah, they have offered little protection to the species at an international level. It is for this reason that N . rajah was listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1981. Since its addition to CITES only six recorded CITES transactions were reported between 1981 and 1988. Two of these were for scientific purposes and the remainder for artificially propagated material for commercial use. The number of CITES trade transactions for N . rajah to date is minimal in comparison to that ofother taxa listed on CITES Appendix I. This is due to propagation difficulties, since N . rajah is a highland species and is noted to be more difficult to propagate than its lowland allies.

Briggs (1985), alluding to the trade in Nepenthes stated ‘if thousands of plants of N . rajah were available from nurseries no one would pay a collector US $1,000 to collect the plant’. Whilst propagation can be carried out, it must not be assumed that the remaining wild populations ofN. rajah are safe. One plant thief was reported to have been fined 100 Malaysian dollars by the Malaysian authorities in 1984 for illegally collecting seed of rare Nepenthes species on Mt. Kinabalu. An article in the Borneo Bulletin describing his arrest and activities reported him to have said ‘nothing can stop me taking N . rajah’.

There is a definite market for this and other rare species of Nepenthes and private individuals are known to offer large sums of money for plants. Not only is N . rajah threatened by unlawful collecting, but by habitat disturbance and even by casual visitors to the area where it grows. The substrate upon which it grows is very fragile and once disturbed takes a long time to recover. I t was listed on Appendix I ofCITES because it was, and still is, threatened with extinction by both illegal collection for trade and habitat destruc- tion.

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A recent survey of over 1,500 nursery catalogues dating from the late 19th century to the present, carried out by the Conservation Unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew revealed that N . rajah has seldom been advertised for sale in comparison with other species in the genus. The obvious absence ofN. rajah from the trade is probably because it is so difficult to propagate and grow. The seeds are not difficult to germinate, but a great deal of patience and time on the part of the grower are required before a plant reaches a suitable size for sale. Gibson ( 1980, 1983) discussed the propagation of N . rajah and acknowledged it to be difficult to grow, He attributed this to the lack of understanding by growers of its natural habitat in Sabah. This has in reality contributed to its survival. The destruction of the habitat of N . rajah is perhaps the major threat to this species in the wild today.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. I am very grateful to Dr Martin Cheek, Dr Phillip Cribb and Mr Noel McGough for their valuable comments on the text.

REFERENCES

Anon. (1981). Proposal to include Nepenthes rajah on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora.

Briggs, J. G. (1985). The current Nepenthes situation in Borneo. Malayan Naturalist 38(3): 46-48.

Burbidge, F. W. (1880). Gardens of the Sun. John Murray, London. Danser, B. H. (1928). The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies. Bull.

Dean, R. (1879). Nepenthes outramiana. The Floral Magazine no. 96, pl.

Gibson, T. C. (1983). On the cultivation of the giant Malaysian pitcher

- (1988). A further note on Nepenthes rajah cultivation. Op. cit.

Hemsley, W. B. (1905). Nepenthes rajah. Curtis’sBot. Mag. 131: t. 8017. Hooker, J. D. (1859). On the origin and development of the pitchers of

Nepenthes, with an account of some new Bornean plants of that genus. Trans. Linn. SOC. 22: 415-424.

Kiew, B. H., Kiew, R., Chin, S. C., Davison, G., & Ng, S. F. P. (1985). Malaysia’s ten most endangered animals, plants and areas. Malayan Naturalist 37( 1): 2-5.

Kurata, S. (1976). Nepenthes of Mount Kinabalu. Sabah National Parks Publication No. 2. Sabah National Parks Trustees, Kota Kinabalu.

Macfarlane, J. M. (1908). Nepenthaceae in Engler A. (ed.), Das PJlanzen- reich IV, 11 1 36 Heft. Leipzig.

Jard. Bot. Buitenz. Ser. 111; Vol. IX; Liv. 3-4.

384.

plant (Nepenthes rajah). Carn. PI. Newsl. 12(4): 82-84.

17(3): 84.

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Masters, M. T. (1881). Nepenthes rajah Hook. f., sp. nov. Card. Chron. (ser. 2, XVI) 2: 492, ic. 91.

Phillipps, A. & Lamb, A. (1988). Pitcher-plants of East Malaysia and Brunei. Nature Malaysiana 13(4): 8-27.

Smythies, B. E. (1965). The distribution and ecology of pitcher-plants (Nepenthes) in Sarawak. UNESCO Humid Tropics Symposium, 1963. Kuching.

St. John, S. (1863). Lfe in the forests of the Far East. Vol. 1. Smith, Elder and Co., London.

Veitch, H. J. (1897). Nepenthes. J . Roy. Hort. Soc. 21: 2.

BOOKS OF 1990

Victoria Matthews

FIELD-GUIDES AND FLORAS. Atlas of the British Flora by F. Perring & M. Walters (BSBI, Pb L22.50) is a reduced in size reprint of the 1982 printing to satisfy an on-going demand until the new edition is ready sometime in 1995 or after. I t has a new index and bibliography, but no changes in nomenclature or taxonomy. The cover photography (of the Lodden lily) is quite extraordinarily bad! Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and northern Europe by D. Sutton (Kingfisher, Pb E7.95) covers over 400 native and introduced trees and includes short descriptions, uses, cultivars, and gives identification characters in reference panels. It is well illustrated with paintings. Collins Photographic Guide to the Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean by I. & P. Schonfelder (Collins, L14.95) describes over 1,000 species and contains 500 photographs. There is a general introduction, a key to families, and descriptions.

Volume 2 ofFlora Iberica ed. by S. Castroviejo et al. (Real Jardin Botinico, CSIC, no price given) covers the families Platanaceae to Plumbaginaceae. Flora Neotropica (New York Botanical Garden): Monograph 2 1 (11) - Lecyth- idaceae, part I1 by S. A, Mori & G. T. Prance; Monograph 52-Sapotaceae by T. D. Pennington (no prices given), continue this worthy series. Flora of Ecuador (published by the Nordic Journal of Botany) issued the Theophras- taceae, Primulaceae and Plumbaginaceae (E 13.95). The Illustrated Flora of Illinois: Nightshades to Mistletoe by R. H. Mohlenbrock (Southern Illinois Univ. Press, $39.95) is the sixth volume of dicots in the series (five vols. of monocots have appeared already).

Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i by W. L. Wagner, D. R. Herbst & S. H. Sohmer (Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 2 Vols. L85) is a most welcome production - both native and naturalized plants are described and keyed and synonyms and vernacular names are given. There are lots of line drawings: every genus is illustrated and over half the species. Worth acquiring ifyour interest in Hawai’i is confined to Niihau is a A Chronicle and Flora of Niihau by J. R. Wichman & H. St. John (National Tropical Botanical Garden, Pb, no price given) which presents a history of this small island followed by a section on the flora with keys and descriptions.

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