''Nepenthes ultra'' 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 ...
native to the
Philippine
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
island of
Luzon
Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
, where it grows at low altitude on
ultramafic
Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are usua ...
soils (hence the name).
''Nepenthes ultra'' belongs to the informal "''N. alata'' group",
which also includes ''
N. alata'', ''
N. ceciliae'', ''
N. copelandii'', ''
N. extincta'', ''
N. graciliflora'', ''
N. hamiguitanensis'', ''
N. kitanglad'', ''
N. kurata'', ''
N. leyte'', ''
N. mindanaoensis'', ''
N. negros'', ''
N. ramos'', and ''
N. saranganiensis''.
[Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Recircumscription of the ''Nepenthes alata'' group (Caryophyllales: Nepenthaceae), in the Philippines, with four new species. ''European Journal of Taxonomy'' 69: 1–23. ][Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. Typification and redelimitation of ''Nepenthes alata'' with notes on the ''N. alata'' group, and ''N. negros'' sp. nov. from the Philippines. ''Nordic Journal of Botany'' 31(5): 616–622. ][Cheek, M. & M. Jebb 2013. ''Nepenthes ramos'' (Nepenthaceae), a new species from Mindanao, Philippines. ''Willdenowia'' 43(1): 107–111. ] These species are united by a number of morphological characters, including winged
petioles,
lids with basal ridges on the lower surface (often elaborated into appendages), and upper pitchers that are usually broadest near the base.
References
* Cheek, M. 2014
12 new carnivorous plant species from the Philippines Kew Science Blog, 20 January 2014.
* Mey, F.S. 2013
''Strange Fruits: A Garden's Chronicle'', November 6, 2013.
* Smith, L. 2014
''The Independent'', January 5, 2014.
Carnivorous plants of Asia
ultra
Ultra may refer to:
Science and technology
* Ultra (cryptography), the codename for cryptographic intelligence obtained from signal traffic in World War II
* Adobe Ultra, a vector-keying application
* Sun Ultra series, a brand of computer work ...
Plants described in 2013
Taxa named by Martin Cheek
Taxa named by Matthew Jebb
{{Nepenthes-stub