A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)

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The issue of Blumea in which Jebb and Cheek's monograph was published A Skeletal Revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae).jpg
The issue of Blumea in which Jebb and Cheek's monograph was published

"A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)" is a monograph by Matthew Jebb and Martin Cheek on the tropical pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes . It was published in the May 1997 issue of the botanical journal Blumea . [1] The work represented the first revision of the entire genus since John Muirhead Macfarlane's 1908 monograph. [2] Jebb and Cheek's revision was based on "collaborative work by both authors since 1984, largely on herbarium specimens, but including fieldwork in New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Madagascar". [3] It was a precursor to their more exhaustive 2001 monograph, "Nepenthaceae". [4]

Contents

Content

The authors recognised 82 species, including six described for the first time: N. argentii , N. aristolochioides , N. danseri , N. diatas , N. lamii , and N. murudensis . [1] Additionally, N. macrophylla was raised to a species from infraspecific rank. Jebb and Cheek also included five "little known taxa": N. deaniana , N. junghuhnii , N. melamphora var. lucida, N. neglecta , and N. smilesii . Three taxa were excluded: N. cincta , N. cristata , and N. lindleyana . Three widespread natural hybrids were also covered. [1]

Jebb and Cheek revised several of the taxonomic determinations made in B. H. Danser's influential 1928 monograph, "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies". This included the recognition of N. eustachya , N. hispida , N. ramispina , and N. sumatrana as distinct species, whereas previously they had been treated as heterotypic synonyms of N. alata , N. hirsuta , N. gracillima , and N. treubiana , respectively. Jebb and Cheek also reduced Danser's N. carunculata to N. bongso and N. leptochila to N. hirsuta . A number of more recently described species were also sunk in synonymy, including N. faizaliana and N. sandakanensis to synonyms of N. stenophylla , N. longifolia to a synonym of N. sumatrana , N. talangensis to a synonym of N. bongso , N. tenuis to a synonym of N. dubia , and N. xiphioides to a synonym of N. pectinata . [1] [5] The authors also lectotypified a number of names. [1]

Nepenthes of Borneo by Charles Clarke was published in the same year as Jebb and Cheek's revision. Unlike the latter work, however, it was primarily an ecological monograph and did not attempt to provide an alternative taxonomic interpretation of the Bornean taxa (with the exception of treating N. borneensis in synonymy with N. boschiana and retaining N. faizaliana as a distinct species). [6] However, several of the taxonomic revisions made by Jebb and Cheek were reversed in Clarke's subsequent monograph, Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia , published in 2001. [2]

Reviews

Taxonomist Jan Schlauer reviewed "A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)" in the September 1998 issue of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter . [4]

The paper is a must for all interested seriously in the taxonomy of Nepenthes, and it is another important step towards an improvement of Danser's classical treatment. However, several debatable points have to be clarified previous to the completion of the Flora Malesiana account.

Schlauer disagreed with Jebb and Cheek's synonymisation of N. talangensis with N. bongso and their interpretation of N. stenophylla , which, according to Schlauer, served to perpetuate "Danser's misconception". [4]

"A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)" was also reviewed by Zdeněk Žáček in a 1997 issue of Trifid . [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Nepenthes fusca</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes fusca, or the dusky pitcher-plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo. It is found throughout a wide altitudinal range and is almost always epiphytic in nature, primarily growing in mossy forest.

<i>Nepenthes stenophylla</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes stenophylla, or the narrow-leaved pitcher-plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo. The species produces attractive funnel-shaped pitchers up to 25 cm high. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Nepenthes stenophylla belongs to the loosely defined "N. maxima complex", which also includes, among other species, N. boschiana, N. chaniana, N. epiphytica, N. eymae, N. faizaliana, N. fusca, N. klossii, N. maxima, N. platychila, and N. vogelii.

<i>Nepenthes klossii</i> Species of pitcher plant from New Guinea

Nepenthes klossii is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to New Guinea.

<i>Nepenthes hurrelliana</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes hurrelliana is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it has been recorded from northern Sarawak, southwestern Sabah, and Brunei. It is of putative hybrid origin; its two original parent species are thought to be N. fusca and N. veitchii. A thick indumentum of rusty-brown hairs covers the entire plant, a characteristic presumably inherited from the latter.

<i>Nepenthes hispida</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes hispida is a tropical pitcher plant species native to Borneo. It grows at elevations of 100 to 800 m in kerangas forest. It is known with certainty only from Lambir Hills National Park and surrounding areas.

<i>Nepenthes faizaliana</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes faizaliana is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to the limestone cliffs of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, Borneo. It is thought to be most closely related to N. boschiana.

<i>Nepenthes bongso</i> Species of pitcher plant from Sumatra

Nepenthes bongso is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sumatra, where it has an altitudinal distribution of 1000–2700 m above sea level. The specific epithet bongso refers to the Indonesian legend of Putri Bungsu, the spirit guardian of Mount Marapi.

<i>Nepenthes vogelii</i> Species of pitcher plant from Borneo

Nepenthes vogelii is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo. It is thought to be most closely related to N. fusca.

<i>Nepenthes gymnamphora</i> Species of pitcher plant from Indonesia

Nepenthes gymnamphora is a tropical pitcher plant native to the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It has a wide altitudinal range of 600–2,800 metres (2,000–9,200 ft) above sea level. There is much debate surrounding the taxonomic status of this species and the taxa N. pectinata and N. xiphioides.

<i>Nepenthes talangensis</i> Species of pitcher plant from Sumatra

Nepenthes talangensis is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sumatra, where it grows in upper montane forest at elevations of 1800–2500 m above sea level.

<i>Nepenthes diatas</i> Species of pitcher plant from Indonesia

Nepenthes diatas is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sumatra, where it grows at an altitude of 2,000–2,900 metres (6,600–9,500 ft) above sea level.

<i>Nepenthes inermis</i> Species of pitcher plant from Sumatra

Nepenthes inermis is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The specific epithet inermis is Latin for "unarmed" and refers to the upper pitchers of this species, which are unique in that they completely lack a peristome.

<i>Nepenthes beccariana</i> Species of pitcher plant from Sumatra

Nepenthes beccariana is a tropical pitcher plant. The species was described in 1908 by John Muirhead Macfarlane based on a specimen collected from the island of Nias, which lies off the western coast of Sumatra. It appears to be closely related to both N. longifolia and N. sumatrana, and the former is possibly a heterotypic synonym of this taxon.

<i>Nepenthes <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> pyriformis</i> Species of carnivorous plant

Nepenthes × pyriformis is a natural hybrid involving N. inermis and N. talangensis. It is known only from Mount Talang in Sumatra, to which N. talangensis is endemic. Nepenthes talangensis was only described as a distinct species in 1994. Prior to this it was placed within N. bongso and some of the older literature identifies this hybrid as N. bongso × N. inermis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies</span> 1928 monograph by B. H. Danser

"The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies" is a seminal monograph by B. H. Danser on the tropical pitcher plants of the Dutch East Indies and surrounding regions. It was originally published in the Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg in 1928, and reprinted by Natural History Publications (Borneo) in 2006.

<i>Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia</i>

Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia is a monograph by Charles Clarke on the tropical pitcher plants of Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and their minor surrounding islands. It was published in 2001 by Natural History Publications (Borneo). Clarke described it as "intermediate between an ecological monograph and a taxonomic one".

<i>Nepenthes of Borneo</i>

Nepenthes of Borneo is a monograph by Charles Clarke on the tropical pitcher plants of Borneo. It was first published in 1997 by Natural History Publications (Borneo), and reprinted in 2006. Clarke describes it as "primarily an ecological monograph".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepenthaceae (2001 monograph)</span>

"Nepenthaceae" is a monograph by Martin Cheek and Matthew Jebb on the tropical pitcher plants of Malesia, which encompasses Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Singapore. It was published in 2001 by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands as the fifteenth volume of the Flora Malesiana series. The species descriptions presented in the monograph are based on the authors' field observations in Borneo, New Guinea, and Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the examination of plant material deposited at 20 herbaria.

<i>Pitcher-Plants of Borneo</i>

Pitcher-Plants of Borneo is a monograph by Anthea Phillipps and Anthony Lamb on the tropical pitcher plants of Borneo. It was first published in 1996 by Natural History Publications (Borneo), in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Malaysian Nature Society. An updated and much expanded second edition was published in 2008 as Pitcher Plants of Borneo, with Ch'ien Lee as co-author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepenthaceae (1908 monograph)</span>

"Nepenthaceae" is a monograph by John Muirhead Macfarlane on the tropical pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes. It was published in 1908 in Adolf Engler's Das Pflanzenreich. It was the most exhaustive revision of the genus up to that point, covering all known species, and included detailed accounts of the structure, anatomy, and development of Nepenthes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jebb, M.H.P. & M.R. Cheek 1997. A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae). Blumea42(1): 1–106.
  2. 1 2 Clarke, C.M. 2001. Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia . Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
  3. Groves, M. 1997. Skeletal Revision of Nepenthes. Carnivorous Plant Mailing List, April 8, 1997.
  4. 1 2 3 Schlauer, J. 1998. Literature Reviews. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 27(3): 75.
  5. Kurata, S. 2002. "Revision trial in recent enumeration of Nepenthes species" (PDF).Proceedings of the 4th International Carnivorous Plant Conference: 111–116.
  6. Clarke, C.M. 1997. Nepenthes of Borneo . Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
  7. (in Czech) Žáček, Z. 1997. Recenze - A skeletal revision of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae). Trifid 1997(3–4): 76–77. (page 2)