''Nepenthes glabrata'' is a tropical

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

. The species grows in open, high forest at elevations of 1,600 to 2,100 m. It produces dainty, colourful pitchers reaching only a few centimetres in height. These traps are red speckled on a yellowish background, giving them a "hand painted" appearance.D'Amato, P. 1998. '' The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants''. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''glabrata'' is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''glaber'', meaning "hairless", and refers to the mostly

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

nature of this species.

Botanical history

As in the case of '' N. eymae'' and '' N. hamata'', two formal descriptions of this species were published almost concurrently. The first, by

Shigeo Kurata is a Japanese botanist and ''Nepenthes'' taxonomist whose work in the 1960s and 1970s contributed much to the current popularity of these plants.Clarke, C.M. & C.C. Lee 2004. ''Pitcher Plants of Sarawak''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), K ...

under the name ''N. rubromaculata'', was published on February 6, 1984, in the ''

Journal of Insectivorous Plant Society is a quarterly Japanese-language periodical and the official publication of the Insectivorous Plant Society of Japan.Rice, B. 2010Carnivorous Plant Society Archives The Carnivorous Plant FAQ. rchived page from October 10, 2010/ref> The journal ...

''. The second, by John R. Turnbull and Anne T. Middleton as ''N. glabratus'', was published four days later on February 10, in ''Reinwardtia''.Cheek, M.R. & M.H.P. Jebb 2001. Nepenthaceae. ''Flora Malesiana'' 15: 1–157. Although Kurata's article was printed first, the name he used is a

later homonym In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

of a horticultural hybrid published in 1891 (''N. × rubromaculata'') and is thus a ''

nomen illegitimum ''Nomen illegitimum'' (Latin for illegitimate name) is a technical term used mainly in botany. It is usually abbreviated as ''nom. illeg.'' Although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants uses Latin terms as qualif ...

'' (illegitimate name).Schlauer, J. N.d
''Nepenthes glabrata''
. Carnivorous Plant Database. ''Nepenthes glabrata'' (emended with a feminine

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

)Schlauer, J. 1994
NEPENTHES comments for Flora Malesiana
Carnivorous Plant Mailing List, September 9, 1994. is therefore the correct name for this species.Jebb, M.H.P. & M.R. Cheek 1997. A skeletal revision of ''Nepenthes'' (Nepenthaceae). ''Blumea'' 42(1): 1–106. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of ''N. glabrata'', ''J.R.Turnbull & A.T.Middleton 83113a'', was collected on August 31, 1983, from the Tri Tunggal Eboni Corp. logging concession () in

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The provin ...

at an altitude of 1,666 m. In their description of the species, Turnbull and Middleton wrote that the specimen was deposited at Herbarium Bogoriense (BO), the herbarium of the

Bogor Botanical Gardens The Bogor Botanical Gardens () is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by the National Research and Innovation Agency. The garden is located in the city center and adjoin the ...

, but

Matthew Jebb Matthew Hilary Peter Jebb (born 1958) is an Irish people, Irish botany, botanist and taxonomy (biology), taxonomist specialising in the ant plant genus, genera ''Squamellaria'', ''Myrmecodia'', ''Hydnophytum'', ''Myrmephytum'' and ''Anthorrhiza' ...

and

Martin Cheek Martin Roy Cheek (born 1960) is a botanist and taxonomist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The holotype of ''N. rubromaculata'' Sh.Kurata, ''Kurata, Atsumi & Komatsu 149a'', was collected on November 9, 1983, from the route from Malei to Kajoga in Central Sulawesi. The type repository is not indicated in the description, but is likely to be the herbarium of the Nippon Dental College (NDC). Soon after these descriptions were published, the authors introduced the species into cultivation.D'Amato, P. 2000
Re: ''N. glabrata''
. Carnivorous Plant Mailing List, February 24, 2000. Hobbyists distinguished two forms: "Palo Alto", which produces more compact pitchers and narrow leaves that turn purple under high light levels; and "Forestville", which has somewhat larger pitchers, particularly aerial ones.

Description

''Nepenthes glabrata'' is a climbing plant growing to a height of 13 m.McPherson, S.R. 2009. ''

Pitcher Plants of the Old World ''Pitcher Plants of the Old World'' is a two-volume monograph by Stewart McPherson on the pitcher plants of the genera '' Nepenthes'' and '' Cephalotus''. It was published in May 2009 by Redfern Natural History Productions and covers all species ...

''. 2 volumes. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. The stem is

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section (geometry), cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and S ...

to slightly two-ridged and up to 3 mm in diameter. Internodes are up to 3 cm long. Nepglabrata6

Leaves are chartaceous and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. The

lamina Lamina may refer to: People * Saa Emerson Lamina, Sierra Leonean politician * Tamba Lamina, Sierra Leonean politician and diplomat Science and technology * Planar lamina, a two-dimensional planar closed surface with mass and density, in mathem ...

(leaf blade) of young rosette plants is linear, while that of rosettes on mature plants may be greatly reduced to the point of being almost absent. On climbing stems, the lamina is narrowly oblong-

ligulate A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many Poaceae, grasses (family Poaceae) and Cyperaceae, sedges (family Cyperaceae). A ligule is also a strap-shap ...

to narrowly

oblanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets) ...

. It measures up to 12 cm in length by 3 cm in width. It has an acute apex with a slightly

peltate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

insertion. The lamina is shortly

attenuate In physics, attenuation (in some contexts, extinction) is the gradual loss of flux intensity through a medium. For instance, dark glasses attenuate sunlight, lead attenuates X-rays, and water and air attenuate both light and sound at variable at ...

at the base, clasping the stem by approximately one-third to one-half of its circumference and may or may not become decurrent as a pair of very low ridges. One to three longitudinal veins are present on either side of the

midrib A primary vein, also known as the midrib, is the main vascular structure running through the center of a leaf. The primary vein is crucial for the leaf’s efficiency in photosynthesis and overall health, as it ensures the proper flow of material ...

Pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

veins are inconspicuous. Rosette and lower pitchers are small and

globose This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

. Upper pitchers are shortly cylindrical to slightly

infundibular An infundibulum (Latin for ''funnel''; plural, ''infundibula'') is a funnel-shaped cavity or organ. Anatomy * Brain: the pituitary stalk, also known as the ''infundibulum'' and ''infundibular stalk'', is the connection between the hypothalamus and ...

. They grow to 14 cm in height by 3 cm in width. The wings found in aerial pitchers are distinctive in that they are well developed (≤10 mm wide) but lack fringe elements. The pitcher mouth has an oblique insertion. The

peristome Peristome (from the Greek language, Greek ''peri'', meaning 'around' or 'about', and ''stoma'', 'mouth') is an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelled gastropods have peristomes. In mo ...

is cylindrical and narrow, measuring only up to 2.5 mm in width. It bears very fine ribs (0.1 mm high) spaced 0.25–0.5 mm apart. Unusually, the inner margin of the peristome lacks teeth. The pitcher lid, or operculum, is suborbicular in shape and measures up to 2.8 cm in length by 3.1 cm in width. It has a rounded to

truncate In mathematics and computer science, truncation is limiting the number of digits right of the decimal point. Truncation and floor function Truncation of positive real numbers can be done using the floor function. Given a number x \in \mathbb ...

apex and a truncate base. The underside of the lid lacks appendages but bears scattered

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

gland A gland is a Cell (biology), cell or an Organ (biology), organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also funct ...

s up to 0.2 mm in diameter. It shows unusual

palmate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

nervation, with the midrib branching and connecting to the lateral veins around 1 cm below the apex. An unbranched

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

(≤5 mm long) is inserted near the base of the lid. ''Nepenthes glabrata'' has a

racemose A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoo ...

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

measuring up to 20 cm in length, of which the peduncle makes up 7 cm. It bears around 55 one-flowered partial peduncles lacking

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s. The reddish-green flowers have oblong

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s up to 3 mm long and are borne on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

measuring up to 8 mm. Most parts of the plant are

. The exceptions to this are the spur and the inflorescence, which bear an

indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant or of bristles (rarely scales) of an insect. Plants The indumentum on plants can have a wide variety of functions, including as ...

of simple white hairs around 0.2 mm long. Nepglabrata1

Ecology

''Nepenthes glabrata'' is

, where it grows terrestrially in open, high forest. It has an altitudinal distribution of 1,600 to 2,100 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. At one location, ''N. glabrata'' has been found growing alongside '' N. maxima'' and '' Drosera burmanni'' at 1,600 m.Evans, D.P. 2009
New Cultivars: ''Nepenthes maxima'' ‘Lake Poso’
''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The news ...

'' 38(1): 18–22. A putative

natural hybrid In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different varieties, subspecies, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Generally, it means that each cell has genetic material from two dif ...

with the former has been recorded. ''Nepenthes glabrata'' is classified as

Least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

, based on an assessment carried out in 2015.

Related species

''Nepenthes glabrata'' belongs to what has been called the "''N. tentaculata'' group" or "Hamata group",Meimberg, H. & G. Heubl 2006. Introduction of a nuclear marker for phylogenetic analysis of Nepenthaceae. ''Plant Biology'' 8(6): 831–840. which also includes four other closely related species from

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and

: '' N. hamata'', '' N. muluensis'', '' N. murudensis'', and '' N. tentaculata''. More recently, '' N. nigra'' has joined this group of related taxa.Nerz, J., A. Wistuba, C.C. Lee, G. Bourke, U. Zimmermann & S. McPherson 2011. ''Nepenthes nigra'', a new pitcher plant from Central Sulawesi. In: McPherson, S.R. '' New Nepenthes: Volume One''. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. pp. 468–491. In their 2001 monograph, Cheek and Jebb considered ''N. glabrata'' to be most closely allied to ''N. muluensis'' based on its atypical lid nervation as well as the size, shape, and pigmentation of its upper pitchers. Currently, it appears that ''N. glabrata'' is most closely related to '' N. pitopangii'', a highland species also endemic to

. While the stem, laminae, and lower pitchers of these species are very similar, the markedly different upper pitcher morphology means that they are unlikely to be confused. The aerial pitchers of ''N. pitopangii'' are far less elongated than those of ''N. glabrata'' and completely lack wings.

Natural hybrids

Where their ranges overlap, ''N. glabrata'' is known to hybridise with '' N. hamata'',Lee, C.C. 2006
Sulawesi Photographs
. Carnivorous Plants in the tropics. '' N. maxima'', '' N. nigra'',McPherson, S.R. & A. Robinson 2012. ''

Field Guide to the Pitcher Plants of Sulawesi This list of ''Nepenthes'' literature is a listing of major published works dealing with the tropical pitcher plants of the genus ''Nepenthes''. It includes specialised standalone publications and taxonomic monographs released as part of larger ...

''. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. and '' N. tentaculata''. The hybrid plants are generally intermediate in appearance between their parent species.

References

External links

*
Photograph of the "Palo Alto" form
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4912159 Carnivorous plants of Asia glabrata Endemic flora of Sulawesi Plants described in 1984