[Nepenthes vieillardii

Nepenthes vieillardii .

Origin of depicted specimens: Village of Prony or road to Mount Koghi, New Caledonia.

New Caledonia is a small French territory located in the southern pacific ocean, 1500 km east of the Australian coast. It comprises a large number of tropical islands, but only the main one (called "la grande terre" over there) hosts carnivorous plants. More precisely, most carnivorous plants thrive in the southern tip of this island, in or around a large bog called "la plaine des lacs".

N. vieillardii grows from sea level up to an elevation of 500 m. It favors open, sunny and well drained areas. It clearly benefits from the passage of cyclones, mining activity, road works and deforestation thanks to its carnivorous habit and its tendrils which do not allow it to climb on the surrounding vegetation but rather attach to it so that its liana do not break off under high wind or rain. Under sunny conditions, the plants bloom extensively, and develop light green and thin leaf blades, each of which produce a pitcher. The slightest shade will, however, slow growth and force the plants to stop flowering. Such plants will produce leaves that are 4 to 5 times longer, dark green, with thick leaf blades and no pitcher. This Nepenthes species is a case study for carnivorous plants enthusiasts as it develops 4 types of easily distinguishable pitchers: juvenile, lower, intermediate and higher. The pitchers exhibit a large color variation. Even though lower or older pitchers are always more red than higher or younger ones, it has become clear to me that different clones thrive on this island. Plants on the west coast (Mont Koghi) are all in the greens and reds while the pitchers of some plants on the southern locations (port Boise) are dark purple or all green with a black peristome, and plants on the east coast (Prony) have yellow-brown pitchers. It has also become apparent to me that, on the west coast, some plants only have all green pitchers while some see their pitchers go from green to red as they age or when they are located lower on the branch. Even though both populations often live at the same spot, no intermediate coloration can be seen, red plants are always more numerous and the presence of sun or shade does not seem to influence coloration.

But what is more intriguing is that the flowers of these plants also exhibit color variations. Male and female flowers can indeed be either green or red independently of the color of the pitchers. While dissecting some pitchers, I discovered that lower pitchers eat more creeping insects while higher pitchers preferably catch flying ones. Many live mosquito larvae could be seen floating in the pitcher fluid of lower and sometimes intermediate pitchers. A still unknown solitary large caterpillar with funny-looking antennas was also found to be living at the bottom of the fluid of the lower/intermediate pitchers.

The base of the stems of this Nepenthes species is visibly swollen all the way down to 10 cm below the ground and may serve as a water storage organ to survive through the dry season, a period during which the plants stop growing This rest period is also observed when the plants are cultivated all year long under warm and humid conditions. In cultivation, the top portion (ca. 10 cm) of the root only starts to thicken six months after seed germination.

Comments by Laurent LEGENDRE.

Pictures by Eric PARTRAT,

Photo Info Name: [Nepenthes vieillardii]

Credit: Eric PARTRAT (epbb@club-internet.fr), Date : October, 2000

Laurent LEGENDRE (L.Legendre@uws.edu.au), Date : Conference 2000 ICPS

The photographs may be downloaded for private use and may be used by all carnivorous plants societies worldwide. The photographs may not be used commercially or for publications without permission of Eric PARTRAT (epbb@club-internet.fr)