N. veitchii x lowii: BE-4006 SMALL
Source: Random selection from a large number of different clones out of microprop.
Item Description: First introduced Feb 2020. It has taken us over 20 years to raise the parent plants from seed to be able to reproduce this natural hybrid and multiply it up in the lab. The original parent plants are natural hybrids that arose from seeds of N. veitchii. We raised only 2 clones of the parent plants and are very fortunate to have had one of them turn out to be a female and the other male. We have only ever sold only a very few of each of the parent clones as cuttings from nursery mother stock.
This is a wonderful hybrid as the photos clearly show. It produces huge pitchers and is the only plant to have caught small rats in our nurseries, probably because it exudes nectar from around the bristles on the underside of the lid, that attracts rodents, a trait it has inherited from N. lowii which evolved an amazing mutualistic relationship with the tree shrew Tupai montana.
Because this is technically N. (veitchii x lowii) x (veitchii x lowii), we expect to see more than the usual amount of variation in this cross, as it should exhibit the variability usually associated with a hybrid swarm. In other words, whist most clones should resemble the parent plants (both of which look quite similar to one another), we do expect some clones to tend towards either N. veitchii or N. lowii. At the time of launch it’s too early to distinguish this possible trait.
The photos shown here are representative and may not be identical clones to the plants you receive. The first two photos in the series show one of the clones that has arisen from this cross. The other photos are of mature pitchers of one or other of the parent plants. Please note that new pitchers exhibit a striped peristome, even on large plants, but they gradually darken, as can be seen on the photos of mature pitchers.
Climate: Highland
Native Area: Horticultural
