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Nepenthes putaiguneung
One of Sumatra's youngest species, described in 2020 by Metusala, Al-Farishy and Jebb in the journal Phytotaxa. Nepenthes putaiguneung comes from the island's highlands and belongs to the group of montane species around N. singalana, whose members look much alike and are told apart mainly by details of lid, peristome and flower. Little has been published on the species beyond the original description, and this guide confines itself to what can be checked there and in later overviews.
No photograph of this species under a Creative Commons licence or in the public domain is in the guide yet.
Identification
The description gives as key characters narrowly spathulate leaves with an obtuse tip and a stem round to four-angled in cross-section. Lower pitchers are widened below and cylindrical above; their peristome carries short, closely set ribs. In the upper pitchers the peristome is finely ribbed and finely lobed, and lacks the teeth on the inner edge found in its relatives. The lid has a glandular crest at its base with a short, tooth-like triangular appendage; in the lower pitchers the glands on the lid's underside lie only along the midline. Male flowers bear a minute bracteole on the pedicel. No verifiable measurements were available to this guide, so the size fields are left empty.
Similar species
The describers compare the species with Nepenthes singalana and N. mikei, two Sumatran highland species with similar pitchers. N. putaiguneung differs from both in leaf shape (narrowly spathulate with an obtuse tip), pitcher shape, a peristome without teeth on the inner edge, the small tooth-like appendage at the lid base, the restriction of the lid glands to the midline in lower pitchers, and the small bracteole on the male pedicels. In the field, peristome and lid are the most useful characters; a firm identification needs the description itself.
The trap and how it works
A pitfall of the ordinary Nepenthes kind, whose details for this species are known only from the description. Luring works through nectar on the peristome and on the crest at the lid base, which is glandular and sits above the mouth. The finely ribbed peristome, as in related species, acts as a slide once a film of water covers it. That the lower pitchers have their lid glands only along the midline means the nectar is concentrated there. Nothing has been published on prey, pitcher fluid or pitcher inhabitants.
Habitat and ecology
The description places the species in the highlands of Sumatra. Its relatives N. singalana and N. mikei grow in mossy montane forest and in stunted summit scrub, and it is reasonable to assume this species has a similar habitat; that inference is the reason for the cloud-forest code (B1). No published altitudinal range or fuller habitat description was found for this guide, so the elevation field is left empty.
Distribution and elevation
Endemic to Sumatra, Indonesia; the world checklist gives Sumatra only and the description speaks of the island's highlands. Our own species list places the species in West Sumatra. That could not be confirmed from a verifiable source for this guide, so the province is not given as established. Since the species has been known only briefly, its actual range has not yet been mapped.
- Native
Forms and variation
No varieties or forms have been described and no natural hybrids reported. The species belongs to a group of closely related highland species within which species boundaries have often shifted in the past: N. singalana, N. mikei and related taxa have been merged and split again in turn. It is quite possible that views on this species will change as more material and genetic research become available.
Where and when to see it
Since the literature does not specify the locality and the species has been known only briefly, no responsible advice can be given on where to see it. Anyone meeting montane pitcher plants of the N. singalana group in the Sumatran highlands can look for narrowly spathulate leaves with an obtuse tip, a peristome without teeth on the inner edge and a small tooth-like appendage at the lid base. Good photographs of lid and peristome are worth more to specialists than any collected specimen.
Conservation status
The Red List data used by this guide contain no assessment (Not Evaluated), and no conservation recommendation from the description was available to this guide. What applies to many recently described montane species of Sumatra probably applies here too: a small known range and interest from collectors. Like the whole genus, the species is listed in CITES Appendix II, so international trade in wild plants requires a permit.
Scientific name
Nepenthes putaiguneung | Al-Farishy, Metusala & Jebb, 2020
Nepenthes putaiguneung was described on 4 August 2020 by Destario Metusala, Reza Saputra Al Farishy and Matthew Jebb, in Phytotaxa 454(4): 285-292. The highlands of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, where the species is endemic; a more precise type locality could not be established with certainty. The name appears to be of local (Sundanese or regional Sumatran) origin, possibly related to words for "mountain" or "peak", but an explicit source confirmation of the precise meaning was not found.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), via Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.